Cage and Shue make these clichs into unforgettable people". A phobic con artist and his protg are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the former's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly. The film also received nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director. Shortly afterward, Sera is approached by three college students at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. You put them up against a couple of trucks, with it all happening around them, and their voices become great".[7][10]. [7] Cage recounted that he found the use of 16mm liberating as an actor stating in a 1995 interview with Roger Ebert: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, "As an actor, having a 16-mm. The website's critical consensus reads, "Oscar-awarded Nicolas Cage finds humanity in his character as it bleeds away in this no frills, exhilaratingly dark portrait of destruction. An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an INTERPOL Agent. Shue none the less works her socks off to make Sera sensitive and believable. Sera begs Ben to see a doctor, which makes him furious. A love story like no other, Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas is a bleak, mesmerizing rhapsody of self-destruction, defiantly uninterested in peddling Hollywood-style uplift. Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Plot. Title: 2015-10-30T15:50:00Z The letter F. An envelope. Use the HTML below. There aren't many directors with the talent--or nerve--to compose and play the music for their films (although creepmeister John Carpenter comes to mind), and none have done it more artfully than Mike Figgis on Leaving Las Vegas. After limited release in the United States on October 27, 1995, Leaving Las Vegas was released nationwide on February 9, 1996, receiving strong praise from both critics and audiences. Sera is a prostitute working for abusive Latvian pimp Yuri Butsov. With nothing left to live for, and a sizable severance check from his boss, he heads to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. It was cool." [15] The video cassettes were distributed on November 12, 1996 in two languages, English and Russian, while the DVD was distributed on January 1, 1998 in English for USA and Canada. Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. He loads a supply of liquor and beer into his BMW and gets drunk as he drives from Los Angeles to Nevada. A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera. From here on in we know that this is no ordinary film about an alcoholic trying to get off the booze, we are on a train to Bleakville, stops at Love and Liberation seem a very long way away. He dies shortly thereafter. Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis, and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Marco van Hoof , Ben Sanderson is an alcoholic, who after getting released from his well paid screen writing position, heads to Vegas with his severance pay. Leaving Las Vegas was filmed in super 16mm[4] instead of 35mm film; while 16mm was common for art house films at the time, 35mm is most commonly used for mainstream film. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? It indicates the ability to send an email. That's why I did Mr. Jones, because I think manic-depression is a fascinating, sad, and amazing phenomenon. [18] The soundtrack also included three jazz standards performed by Sting and excerpts of dialogue from the film. [14], The film was a success at the box office, particularly considering its budget, grossing $49.8 million.[2]. O'Brien committed suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.[3]. Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. Beyond the Top 250: IMDb Staff's Favorite Movies, Most Romantic Romance of the 20th Century. After limited release in the United States on October 27, 1995, Leaving Las Vegas was released nationwide on February 9, 1996, receiving strong praise from critics and audiences. A lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen. While Sera is working, Ben goes to a casino and returns with another prostitute. "[11] It also holds a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Mike Figgis based Leaving Las Vegas on a 1990 autobiographical novel by John O'Brien, who died of suicide in April 1994, shortly after finding out his novel was being used as the basis for a film. We find him at the beginning of the film joyously hurtling thru a liquor market isle, promptly filling his shopping cart with bottles of liquor. What are the differences between the R-Rated and Unrated Version. A lot of communication in the year before we made the film. Trumpeter and keyboard player Mike Figgis composed a number one jazz album with his score to the film Leaving Las Vegas, most of which consisted of low-key, moody jazz pieces, along with five vocal numbers, three standards ("Angel Eyes," "My One and Only Love," and "It's a Lonesome Old Town") sung by Sting with just a piano and acoustic bass accompaniment, one ("Come Rain or Come Was this review helpful to you? To foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery to assume the identity of the criminal mastermind who murdered his only son, but the criminal wakes up prematurely and seeks revenge. Leaving Las Vegas Print, Alternative Movie Poster, Las Vegas, Booze Run, Minimal Movie Art, Plain White Border, Cinephilia, Movie Fans Gift bySvoon. Ironically the author, John O'Brien committed suicide in 1994 just weeks after selling the movie rights. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having lost his family and been recently fired, has decided to move to Las Vegasand drink himself to death. A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not. [5][6] Despite basing most of his screenplay on O'Brien's novel, Figgis spoke of a personal attachment with the novel, stating "Anything I would do would be because I had a sympathetic feeling towards it. Where he seriously plans to drink himself to death. In Las Vegas he meets Sera, a prostitute with some problems as well who he moves in with. The film was a semi-autobiographical United Artists company distributed the film in North America, RCV Film Distribution with Atalanta Filmes in Europe, and in Australia 21st Century Film Corporation distributed the film. When he gets fired, he decides to leave everything behind and move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. One early morning, he drives drunkenly from his Los Angeles home down to the Las Vegas Strip; he nearly hits a woman, Sera, on the crosswalk. Doctors Jo Wilson, April Kepner, and Andrew DeLuca share the episodes they think are essential to understanding their characters. Video cassettes and DVD of the film were distributed by MGM. When she enters their hotel room, the students change the deal and demand anal sex, which she refuses. Movie Hunger Site: http://www.moviehunger.com/Like Us On FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/VI9Q6VFollow Us On TWITTER: http://bit.ly/122GFRc Interviewing Director Mike Figgis", "Cage Did Serious Research For Alcoholic Role", DallasFort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Film, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leaving_Las_Vegas&oldid=1017965046, Films about prostitution in the United States, Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance, Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance, Independent Spirit Award for Best Film winners, Articles that include text from Library of Congress finding aids, Short description is different from Wikidata, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "Ben Pawns His Rolex/Sera Talks to Her Shrink", This page was last edited on 15 April 2021, at 15:44.