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In Mike Figgis's startlingly beautiful new movie, Nicolas Cage gives a great performance as a failed writer who is consciously drinking himself to death. Cage captures the character's fearsomely undirected vitality-the muddled will that gives this drunk both the strength to die and the perverse ability to enjoy what's killing him. Figgis tells the story as a series of vivid, intense moments: snapshots of a man for whom neither the past nor the future has any meaning. The sole trace of conventional drama is the hero's affair with a kindhearted young hooker (superbly played by Elisabeth Shue). But the possibility that love will rescue him from his fate vanishes quickly, like a mirage. Although the movie is terribly, crushingly sad, its honesty is invigorating: it names its poison and downs it, neat. Also with Julian Sands. Figgis's screenplay is based on a 1990 novel by John O'Brien, who committed suicide last year at the age of thirty-three.

User's Comment:
1995's Leaving Las Vegas is a dark, fatalistic film that unlike most Hollywood films, does not offer redemption at the end. Nicholas Cage stars in yet another edgy role as Ben Sanderson. As the film begins, we find that Ben has lost his reason to live as his career in Hollywood and his family have been taken away from him. He has vowed to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. One very powerful early scene, finds Ben downing a whole pint of booze in one shot at a bar and sinking into a hallucinogenic state. The scene is filmed in a hazy blurriness that captures the moment perfectly. Upon arriving in Vegas, Ben runs across a hooker, Sera, played by Elisabeth Shue. They connect with one another and soon Sera finds herself becoming attached to Ben. Ben offers no promises and demands that the one thing she never asks him to do is stop drinking. Sera grudgingly accepts this condition and they enter into a relationship that is based on a mutual neediness that only desperate people have. Director Mike Figgis does not allow the characters to change. Ben remains a drunk throughout the film and he fulfills his destiny and Sera never gives up her profession. Mr. Cage & Ms. Shue are brilliant in their roles and both garnered much acclaim. But as great as Ms. Shue is, this is Mr. Cage's film all the way. He is a commanding presence on screen and gives one the best acting performances in the last twenty years. For his troubles, he won the 1995 Best Actor Oscar. Ms. Shue was nominated for Best Actress and Mr. Figgis gained two nominations, one for Best Director and the other for Best Adapted Screenplay. This film was a surprise and so far an anomaly for Mr. Figgis. He showed nothing in his prior films to suggest he could pull off a film like Leaving Las Vegas and none of his subsequent films have built upon or matched this film's excellence.