Tagarchief: Rory Cochrane

A Scanner Darkly

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Richard Linklater
Written by: Philip K. Dick (novel), Richard Linklater (screenplay)
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson

Year / Country: 2006, USA
Running Time: 100 mins.

A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s semi-autobiographical novel about a futuristic undercover agent who gets addicted to the drug ‘Substance D’ during a drug epidemic in Orange County in 1994, opens with Rory Cockrane’s junkie character being tormented by bugs that keep respawning on his body and face. It sets the tone of the film right away. This movie, set in a near-future dystopia and police state, seems to be mostly about the frightening downsides of a drug habit.

Typical for Dick, it is also about losing one’s identity as heavy users of Substance D, like main character Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves), typically develop a serious brain impairment. The movie was shot digitally and then animated using rotoscoping technique. This visual style, also used in Linklater’s Waking Life, fits this movie perfectly. Apart from the police characters’ use of ‘scramble suits’, which are suits that change their appearance and voice every microsecond to hide their identity, this is not really a science fiction film. The story – of which there is not much really – is kind of hard to follow, but thanks to the terrific visuals and strong performances by the main cast it is still captivating. Robert Downey Jr. is especially on a roll here.

After The Matrix, Keanu Reeves is on another mind trip here (he literally takes a red pill at one point), but while The Matrix delivers a crystal clear concept, what A Scanner Darkly tries to do, plotwise or thematically, remains pretty much… well… in the dark. What the movie does very well though is portray the depressing hopelessness of being stuck in a community of junkies, with all the panic, pain, fear and paranoia that comes with it. It is admirable that Linklater stayed faithful to Dick’s source material, and did not try to turn it into a Hollywood movie. But maybe this is the one book of the famous sci-fi author that could have used some clarification. Now it remains quite a confusing affair, albeit a mesmerizing one.

Rating:

Biography: Richard Linklater (1960, Houston) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Suburban culture and the passage of time are big themes in many of his movies, some of which are set during one 24-hours period, including his successful ‘Before’-trilogy with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. He is married to Christina Harrison and they have three children, including Lorelei who played a large part in Linklater’s much praised movie Boyhood.

Filmography (a selection): It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988, short), Slacker (1990), Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995), The Newton Boys (1998), Waking Life (2001), Tape (2001), School of Rock (2003), Before Sunset (2004), Fast Food Nation (2006), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Me and Orson Welles (2008), Before Midnight (2013), Boyhood (2014), Everybody Wants Some (2016), Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Dungeon Classics #17: Love and a .45

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Love and a .45 (1994, USA)

Director: C.M. Talkington
Cast: Gil Bellows, Renée Zellweger, Rory Cochrane
Running Time: 101 mins.

This little known nugget is written and directed by C.M. Talkington, who did little else in his career. A shame really, because this movie is very enjoyable. It reminds me a lot of True Romance which was released a year earlier. The story is about two lovers played by Gil Bellows and Renée Zellweger who are leading a happy life in a trailer home. Watty Watts (Bellows) robs convenience stores for a living. This goes well until his crazy partner Billy Mack Black (Rory Cochrane) kills a girl during a heist. After killing two rangers in self defense, the couple takes off to Mexico pursued by the psychopathic Billy Mack and two other homicidal maniacs who Watty Watts borrowed money from. It’s a wild ride full of humor, violence and great music. Look out for the terrific Jeffrey Combs in a non-horror role and Peter Fonda as a hippie.

The Last Don (1997, TV mini-series)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘Power Isn’t Everything… It’s The Only Thing’

Directed by:
Graeme Clifford

Written by:
Mario Puzo (novel)
Joyce Eliason (Teleplay)

Cast:
Danny Aiello (Don Domenico Clericuzio), Joe Mantegna (Pippi De Lena), Jason Gedrick (Crucifixio ‘Cross’ De Lena), Daryl Hannah (Athena Aquitane), Penelope Ann Miller (Nalene De Lena), Rory Cochrane (Dante Santadio), Kirstie Alley (Rose Marie Clericuzio), David Marciano (Georgio Clericuzio), Christopher Meloni (Boz Skannet), Seymour Cassel (Alfred Gronevelt)

Don Domenico Clericuzio is a man that demands respect. His daughter Rose Marie has started a love affair with Jimmy Santadio. The Santadios are the sworn enemies of the Clericuzios and both families are against the affair. But the youngest son of the Don, Silvio, sticks his neck out to help the young love couple but gets shot to death by two Santadio brothers.

At Silvio’s funeral, Jimmy Santadio shows up and asks Don Clericuzio for Rose Marie’s hand. The Don agrees but tells them no family will be present at the wedding. Only Pippi De Lena, a loyal family soldier, will be there. But the Don is lying. After the wedding at the Santadio Mansion, the Clericuzio brothers storm in and kill Don Santadio and all of his sons. Pippi strangles Jimmy Santadio to death personally. He does choose to spare the life of Rose Marie.

After this tragic history, Pippi moves to Vegas to take over the Santadios’ business there. He marries the dancer Nalene and they have a son; Crucifixio. Rose Marie was already pregnant by Jimmy Santadio and at about the same time as Nalene, she gives birth to her son Dante. Now, with this new blood in the family, the evil from the past will have to be set straight. And the war between the Clericuzios and the Santadios is not over yet.

This enjoyable Mario Puzo pulp starts as the Sicilian version of Romeo and Juliet. All the typical mob story elements are there; family disputes, assassinations, illegal gambling and some romantic plotlines. It even contains a Hollywood side-plot in which Hollywood is compared to the Mafia. The cast of this Mini Series does fairly well. Danny Aiello, though no Marlon Brando, gives a convincing performance as the powerful Don Clericuzio who is as cunning as he is ruthless.

The other cast members also give solid performances, most notably Joe Mantegna as Pippi De Lena and Rory Cochrane as Dante Santadio. Also interesting is the performance of Kirstie Alley as Don Clericuzio’s daughter Rose Marie who has gone insane after her newlywed husband got murdered by her own family. The budget for this Mini Series must have been quite tight but it still has plenty of production value to offer. Those who like Mario Puzo stories will definitely enjoy this. Followed by The Last Don II.

Rating:

Quote:
PIPPI DE LENA: “This will be a confirmation which means the body will be found. A communion is when the body disappears.”

Trivia:
In the book the killing of the Santadio family is told towards the end, while the mini-series is told chronologically and therefore this crucial scene is shown in the beginning.