Even though this is yet another
movie where the main character sees dead people
``all
the time", it was pretty
entertaining. Bringing Out The Dead was directed by Martin Scorsese and
it's another one of his New York movies. The first and most famous of these
was Taxi Driver. This
movie is a bit like Taxi Driver
on speed. Nicholas Cage plays a Paramedic who is totally burned out
after too many night shifts and too many patients dying on him. His
role here is a bit reminiscent of Leaving
Las Vegas in that he is a person giving up on his life. Cage
is very good in Bringing Out The Dead but it doesn't have the gut wrenching
intensity of Leaving Las Vegas.
There is a very good cast of supporting players including John Goodman,
Tom Sizemore and Ving Rhames as Cage's whacked out fellow paramedics. Patricia
Arquette, Cage's real-life wife, plays the daughter of one of his
patients and the love interest. He is haunted by one particular
patient he lost and he seems to see her face everywhere. The adrenalin
rush of the job isn't enough anymore and he is searching for some meaning
in his life until he meets Arquette and her father. If you've ever
ridden at high speed in a New York City Taxi, you'll have an idea what
this movie feels like. The story is half nightmare, half hallucination
seen through Cage's eyes. I saw this movie at the late show
in a theatre on Times Square. When I walked out of the movie,
it was like walking back into the movie.
(Movie trivia: Nicholas Cage is Francis Ford Coppola's nephew and Patricia Arquette is Charlie Weaver's granddaughter)