Maria Hanson Movies
Cult figure Abel Ferrara directed this typically edgy look at an actor whose abuse of alcohol and drugs takes an unexpected toll. Matty (Matthew Modine) is an actor whose career is on the fast track; however, he's not able to handle the pressures of life in Hollywood, so he heads to Miami to recharge his emotional batteries. Given Miami's night life, this might not have been the wisest choice he could have made, as he's soon sunk deep in a sea of drink and drugs. Matty asks his girlfriend Annie (Beatrice Dalle) to marry him, but she turns him down, as she's still bitter about having to have an abortion when he got her pregnant some time back. Matty, however, can barely remember this event. Matty's friend Mickey (Dennis Hopper), a night club owner and video artist, decides that Matty needs to get away from his problems, and they set out for a long night of heavy partying, during which Matty picks up a waitress, also named Annie (Sarah Lassez). Somewhere along the line, Matty drinks so much that he blacks out, and he awakes with no memory of the evening. 18 months later, Matty is clean and sober, living in New York with his new girlfriend Susan (Claudia Schiffer). He can't get Annie out of his mind, and he flies to Miami to visit her, hoping to close some old wounds. But Annie the waitress turns out to have some bad news for him when he arrives in Florida. The Blackout marked the acting debut of model Claudia Schiffer, and, as in several of Ferrara's previous films, seminal hardcore rapper Schooly D contributed several songs to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Adapted from a novel by Bernard Victor Dyer, Port Afrique offers an unusual screen romantic team in the form of two-fisted Phil Carey and ethereally beautiful Pier Angeli. Carey plays Rip Reardon, a WW2 veteran who returns to his "second home" in Morocco for a reunion with his wife. Upon arrival, Reardon discovers that his wife was murdered, though the police insist that she died by her own hand. Smelling a cover-up, Reardon conducts his own investigation, which leads him through some of the seedier portions of Port Afrique. Along the way, he meets and briefly romances nightclub singer Ynez (Angeli), who may or may not have had something to do with his wife's death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Maria Pier Angeli, Philip Carey, (more)
