I’m a sucker for a good, hardboiled detective story. This Peter Medak directed and Hilary Henkin written tale of a femme fatale assassin, who refuses to die, and the hell unleashed by the Mafia upon a NYPD detective tasked with the unsavoury job of seeing her off – proves to be a sometimes messy – but ultimately satisfying watch.
A neo-noir thriller with all the obligatory bells and whistles is something I really quite enjoy. Sultry sequences complete with bombshell dames in distress, unexplained mayhem – smoke-filled barrooms harbouring untold secrets, and always a plot, one so custard-thick with questions of whodunit; not to mention who did who, what, when, how, and why. A suspicious vixen or two to spice things up; and of course a cast of characters who, while ostensibly lacking subterranean levels of depth – more than make up for it with their devilishly clever tropes, stylish portrayals, and risqué behaviour – served alongside hyper realized noir-schtick and gritty minimalistic action sequences. Sure, crime capers that harken back to the 40s and 50s can be schlocky as all hell but at least overt predictability comes packaged in a posh exterior.
And, when love for genre films IS present in the cinematic DNA: the result is something akin to a sheaf of pages yoinked directly from a Raymond Chandler novel (author of numerous iconic Phillip Marlowe detective stories from the 1920s to 1940s. ‘The Big Sleep’ among them: later adapted into a golden age blockbuster starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall). This is the desired outcome – if a neo-noir can reach the heights of a ‘Maltese Falcon’, ‘Strangers on a Train’ or ‘The Long Goodbye’ –you’re probably doing alright.
But it’s never enough to just follow the crowd…
If necessity is the mother of invention, then desire for credibility is the mother of reinvention. Subversion of a tried and true formula means blatant emulation is traded in for inspiration/homage. And artistry (hopefully) gains a foothold, even if treading the same worn path fraught with contrivance.
Speaking of subverting expectations: ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’ dispenses with the “rough around the edges” but ultimately “by the books” grizzled detective or, sometimes PI (private investigator) present in classic noir stories – in lieu of a corrupt NYPD homicide detective, Jack Grimaldi. Jack’s been pocketing dirty money for a planned “big” payday. Maybe hoping for a clean getaway to some far off tropical locale, trading the Hudson River’s objectively gray waters for verdant palm trees and sandy shores. While this is never explicitly stated there are some implicit clues within the narrative text.
Gary Oldman portrays Jack with an artful aloofness, an air of superiority that has an avant-garde or even anarchistic feel to it.
Here’s what FilmAuthority.com had to say on the acting:
“Oldman has since proved himself both a great movie star and an accomplished character actor; here, he fuses both into a punkish display, complete with a little Mean Streets rooftop dance as he takes his place for a voyeuristic stake-out. Medak never puts a Kubrickan imprint on his work, but lets the material talk and gives actors their head to be creative; Oldman delivers a slippery, evasive and increasingly desperate performance here. Olin makes a kick-ass nemesis, and there’s salty support from Ron Pearlman, Michael Wincott and Dennis Farina, all folk cut out to populate an urban crime story.” [1]
As a momentary aside:
Juliette Lewis, Annabella Sciorra, and Lena Olin’s acting is out-of-this-world, intergalactic even. Lewis captures the coy coquettish archetype present in traditional noirs; a creature made almost completely of lipstick, submissiveness, nonchalantly batting her eyelashes in response to every inquiry. Her performance is led by naivety communicated clearly through bashful looks – accentuated by the gaze of Lewis’ big doe-like eyes. Her dialogue is bubbly, honeyed, and staunchly perky, none of the rage or mania exhibited in ‘Natural Born Killers’ as Mallory Knox, much more her docile turn as Kate Fuller in ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’. Few others could’ve pulled off the role of Sharon with such nubility and gum chewing retro-throwback vibes were constructed so so effectively. Her performance is infectious in the best kind of way. In my opinion, she’s one part Marilyn and two parts Jane Russell – and what a perfect blend!
Annabella Sciorra plays the nearly estranged housewife, Natalie, who very early on in the movie pulls a gun on her husband – in jest? This is her worryingly cold response after he ridicules the dinner she prepared as too trendy. Jack laments “you need to stop reading those magazines. Whatever happened to regular old meat and potatoes?!” This says a lot about Jack and Natalie’s relationship; one of consistently lowered expectations and a frustrating backdrop of mundanity being preferred to change. Jack and Natalie’s complicated past is unpacked onscreen through quiet conversations between the two – Sciorra’s acting chops on full display opposite Gary Oldman. The sentimentality is not only convincing but authentically lachrymose. The pain of Natalie’s heartbreak is brought to bear in a believable manner – and thus, resonates accordingly.
Lena Olin is quite possibly one of the funnest, no-holds-barred, sex appeal exuding, kill count havin’, lingerie wearing femme fatales – to appear in a modern motion picture. After watching ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’ a few times, I have a sneaking suspicion that Fiona Dorif’s turn as the “holistic assassin” from Netflix’s adaptation of Douglas Adams’ ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ just may be based (at least in part) on Lena Olin’s depiction of Mona Demarkov in ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’. This is just a wild, educated guess on my part but either way, both characters similarly are an unstoppable force, smashing through the plot with armour so impenetrable from suspension of disbelief swiftly chucked out the window in exchange for awesomely violent kills and outright badassery. Put simply, onscreen harbingers of cinematic pandemonium. Olin is at once a vivacious villainess bent on destruction – while also being so deadly seductive in this role that any audience should, in turn, be obliviously drawn headfirst into the mystery. Thirst quenching lasciviousness blurring lines of distinction and making the plot that much harder to track. Same as Jack Grimaldi himself – his adversary’s sexuality proves a purposeful distraction and acts as an obstacle to untangling himself from the mess he finds himself in. All part of that Russian beauty’s nefarious ploy. Tracking the machinations of Lena Olin’s Demarkov is one of the joys of watching ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’ – she’s the inciting incident, the third love interest, and secondary antagonist. A triplicate of script functions for one character. And Lena’s performance proves raw in the best sort of way. Her emotionality tears through the film like a tornado unchecked, what a memorable femme fatale!
Plotwise, the psycho-sexual battle of wits between her and detective Grimaldi forms the foundation of ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’.
And that foundation is sturdier than a New York City highrise.
Cast: Gary Oldman, Juliette Lewis, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, David Proval, Roy Scheider, Ron Perlman, Dennis Farina
Notes:
-Action sequences are gritty, Michael Mann levels of creativity.
-The Russian assassin “Ms. Demarkov”, as a character, is an unstoppable force, her tenacity running hand-in-hand with her ferocity, mania, and unchecked aggression.
-The mystery is heavily layered; dense even. Halfway through the plot the film barely scratches the narrative surface, initial plot points form a lustrous patina that the script smartly avoids ruining, before absolutely necessary. Upon delving further into mystery the twists
(yes, multiple) that span the final minutes prove serpentine and disorienting, yet very enjoyable. Hard to follow? Yes a bit, but all-in-all a rollercoaster of emotional payoff.
-Pacing is a bit jarring; tonally shifting from brooding noir thriller into brief snatches of somber introspection more suited to an indie darling; handled in a sometimes abrupt and clunky manner. These outwardly stark shifts in tone – do clash at times – as heightened contrast proved unachievable. However, the narration omnipresent in the piece really helps in these spots; offering a tone-shifting reprise, softening the moments where the film’s pacing seems out of sync, as sporadic as they may be.
-Gary Oldman’s contributions to overall congruence cannot be downplayed. Jack Grimaldi’s narration is handled masterfully adding tension and suaveness where needed, and helping to persistently propel the plot forward. Very much the opposite of ‘Blade Runner’s oft fan-maligned narration by Harrison Ford as the main character, Deckard. A debate has raged since the director’s cut of that film, the vast majority of fans finding the narration to have added little – and others say it actively detracts from the overall viewing experience. ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’ treats the narration as an essential part of the film, while the other, Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’ has unneeded narration which comes across as awkward and reeks of afterthought.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
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Sources:
[1]
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
‘…Medak’s film is something more than a cop thriller or action movie, but a meditation on not knowing that fate has caught up with you until it’s too late…’
htt/10ps://film-authority.com/2021/03/10/romeo-is-bleeding/
