Mike Figgis

Mike Figgis

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Suspension Of Disbelief Review


OK

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) continues to explore experimental styles of cinema (see Timecode or Hotel) with this playful in-joke about the act of artistic creation. It's an ambitious idea that never quite overcomes the indulgent approach, but the gimmicky touches and mysterious noir vibe hold our interest even if the characters are never very clearly developed.

At the centre is screenwriter Martin (Koch), who lectures at a London film school as his long-awaited new script is finally going into production. His daughter Sarah (Night) has landed a lead role in the film, and Martin celebrates this with her at her 25th birthday. He also becomes fascinated by her friend Angelique (Verbeek), who turns up dead in a canal the next morning, leaving him as the prime suspect. A police inspector (Cranham) is especially suspicious since Martin's wife (Fox in flashback) went missing 15 years ago. Then Angelique's twin Therese (also Verbeek) turns up to twist things further.

Figgis continually throws us out of the story by referring to the film within the film. For example, characters are continually picking up movie scripts that describe them picking up movie scripts. And Figgis further tweaks us with on-screen captions, split-screen angles and movie-set camera gags, plus of course the fact that a central character is an identical twin. But because of all of this self-referential trickery, we can never engage with the story or characters at all.

Continue reading: Suspension Of Disbelief Review

Detmar Blow and Mike Figgis - Detmar Blow and guest London, England - Glenmorangie 5 Senses By Mike Figgis - private view held at Proud galleries Tuesday 13th May 2008

Detmar Blow and Mike Figgis

Liebestraum Review


Very Good
Mike Figgis channels David Lynch and the Coen brothers' Barton Fink in this atmospheric neo-noir about a journalist who gets involved with an old friend's wife on the eve of the destruction of a historic cast-iron building. Ironically enough, the building is the site of a years-earlier triple-murder/suicide, in which a vengeful husband killed two cheating lovers.... Putting this all together isn't simple, as Figgis's way-convoluted tale takes you down many a dream-sequenced road. But the ride is a fun one, and the cast is surprisingly apt.

Time Code Review


Good
Sorry, Mr. Lynch, your place at the head of the avant-garde experimental filmmaker table has been given away. Messrs. Jarmusch, Toback, Korine, and Cronenberg, you'll all be eating outside. Mike Figgis will be taking over for all of you, and don't come back.

Figgis, who earned a Best Director Oscar nomination for Leaving Las Vegas in 1996, appears to have gone a little funny in the head last year with his inexplicable and nearly dialogue-free The Loss of Sexual Innocence. Now he's fully gone off the deep end with what may be the most ambitious experiment ever: Time Code.

Continue reading: Time Code Review

Mike Figgis

Mike Figgis Quick Links

News Pictures Film Quotes RSS

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Filmmaker


Mike Figgis Movies

Suspension of Disbelief Movie Review

Suspension of Disbelief Movie Review

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) continues to explore experimental styles of cinema (see...

Time Code Movie Review

Time Code Movie Review

Sorry, Mr. Lynch, your place at the head of the avant-garde experimental filmmaker table has...

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