This is the third in a series of reports from the Telluride Film Festival. The event customarily held over the Labor Day weekend returned for its 36th season September 4-7. Coverage includes a quick look at a film screened the previous night and highlights of some of the group discussions and celebrity appearances.
Sunday’s Sneak Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Nu Image/Millennium Films), is also showing at the Venice Film Festival, where it is in competition for the Golden Lion, and also at the Toronto International Film Festival later this month.
Running time: 122 minutes.
What’s it all about?
Nicolas Cage has been a very, very bad lieutenant. And as a New Orleans homicide officer who dates a hooker, has a serious cocaine habit and is usually on the losing end when trying to cover the point spread, that’s very good news for film buffs waiting to experience another case of Cage Rage. Trying to solve the drug-related murder of a family of five from Senegal, this more-bad-cop-than-good-cop character thrives in a story where “sometimes people do things wrong or evil and get rewarded for it,” Cage said Sunday.
Don’t call this a remake, though. Other than the fact that the lead character is a damaged detective, this film has little resemblance to the Abel Ferrara-directed 1992 NC-17 movie that starred Harvey Keitel. Whereas the original was set in New York, Port of Call New Orleans gets deep down and dirty in “The Big Uneasy” following Hurricane Katrina. But it does have one thing in common with its predecessor – this isn’t family friendly, National Treasure-type fare.
Director: Werner Herzog (My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, Encounters at the End of the World, Rescue Dawn, The Wild Blue Yonder, Grizzly Man). A usual Telluride participant, Herzog arrived from Venice on Sunday night after the closing credits at the Galaxy, but wasn’t sure which of his 2009 films had just played. His My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, about a presentation of Sophocles’ Orestes that goes terribly wrong, was the nightcap of a Herzog doubleheader that was in the 11 p.m. late-show slot.
Article comments
1 - Val MacEwan
Fascinating series. I must say the opening line "Fearless film fanatics seeking a sneak peek" is genius. Say it 10 times, as fast as you can. The insight on Cage, the description of the town -- it's good, damn good. Enjoyed reading it all. Look forward to more.
2 - Michael
Thanks for the comments, Val. I just returned from Telluride, and plan to have one more story touching on Viggo Mortensen and The Road and tying up some other loose ends. Check out some of my Telluride Film Festival photos that include the Bad Lieutenant's Nicolas Cage and Carey Mulligan, the breakout star of An Education.