Romeo Is Bleeding (1994)

What makes it different from others?

The greatest movie ever made..!

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The main character in the film 'Romeo is bleeding' is not at all an ideal person to deal with as he has too many bad qualities. He is a corrupt cop who is turning out to be a bad influence on his wife. No woman has been able to get emotional satisfaction from him as he has deceived all of them including his mistress as well as wife. As a film noir with plenty of comic touches, Romeo is bleeding begins with the protagonist explaining his downfall. It might sound to be a very ordinary description of a film noir but director Peter Medak has made his film interesting especially in the manner the story has been told. He brings the protagonist closer to his contacts in order to understand his motives. Although actresses Juliette Lewis and Annabella Sciorra have got limited lines for their secondary roles, they have managed to do their best to change their man. Finally, it is actress Lena Olin who get maximum amount of praise in her role as a femme fatale who is responsible for ruining everybody who oppose her. For his philandering ways, Gary Oldman was a perfect choice as a policeman cum romeo whose irresponsible actions bring about his downfall.

Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) Leonesque New York Neo Noir"What is hell? Hell is when you should have walked, but you didn't. That's hell."Its not very often a film comes from way way out of left field and just blows me away, a film that actually holds interesting scenes knowingly long enough to allow you to drink them in. A film that lovingly caresses the essence of classic Film Noir, updates its violence conventions and very stylishly tells a tall tale that's so dangerously close to being over the top but yet is still believable enough to let it all roll. Romeo Is Bleeding is addictive-ly compelling in the same manner that Sergio Leone re-imagined Westerns are, and you have to scratch your head and wonder what kind of opiate were the critics and the viewing public mainlining on when this accidental masterpiece of a film debuted. This has happened many times before not only in cinema, but even in the long history of the Fine Art world. Films that at first are panned and forgotten that finally through the filter of time get interpreted right.A Neo Noir whose all star cast is excellent but actress Lena Olin steals every scene she is in.The narrated story revolves around the decent of NYPD Sergeant Jack "Romeo" Gramaldi into Noirsville. Jack's voice over narration while a throwback to classic noir is also unique, it's comprised of two voices, sometimes the present one the good Jim (aka repentant Jack), sometimes the bad Jack, and sometimes he listens to one head sometimes he listens to the other one.Jack looked just like anybody but inside he wasn't like anybody, he was going to do something about the dream. Jack supplies tips on the locations of safeguarded witnesses who will testify against the mob headed by Don Falcone. As Jack puts it he puts a quarter in a slot and $65,000 comes out of a PO Box. He takes the cash and feeds the drain hole he dug for it in the back yard of his Maspeth, Queens row house. Everything was going right until they started going wrong. Jack's tip on Gazzara gets both Gazzara and federal agents massacred by "Queen of Queens" rackets mob hit woman Mona Demarkov. Olin is Mona, the pieces lithe, sexy, Russian Femme Fatale and she is a smart, devious, scary-sexy one at that. She flashes her sex like a neon sign at the bottom of a dead end road. Jack looks like a deer caught in her headlights. She probably scared the hell out of a lot of conservative prepubescent boy scouts out there with her animal like sexuality in 1994. That may be the reason the film did poorly upon release, the Zeitgeist was't ready for the likes of Mona. She is feline, deadly, a fusion of Diana and Venus, and when she "presents" herself to Jack, he, and any of us out there that's got a pair of stones are goners. This film is one of the definitive depictions of the Female being deadlier than the Male. Jack is hypnotized between the allure of Mona and the money she baits him with. In the tradition of classic Noirs, its far more powerful a scene with what it doesn't show than say a similar sequence in Basic Instinct.After Demarkov is captured the second time she makes a deal with the feds to turn witness against Don Falcone. Sal asks Jack for her location Jack provides it but the info is wrong and Jack is summoned before Don Falcone who says he will make his wife ugly, burn his house down, and gut his girlfriend, and if he doesn't kill Mona he'll authorize it. On top of all this Jack fancies himself as a ladies man, a straying tomcat Romeo with women problems, both with his long suffering wife Natalie, and with dive waitress Sheri. Jack and Natalie have some poignant scenes together as their life together falls apart. Jack realizes too late that you don't own love, love owns you.Romeo Is Bleeding features a New York City festooned with graffiti, during the era of the World Trade Center. Williamsburg, Bushwick, and the JMZ elevated line in Brooklyn, Maspeth, in Queens, and lower Manhattan are all featured in the film. Sal like a chain smoking bad Bogart, tells Jack outside of Coney Island, that it (New York City) is like the Fall of Rome out there, the streets are filled with animals. Don Falcone acknowledges that he knows the barbarians are outside the gates but tells Jack that that doesn't mean we have to leave the door open.Weaved throughout the film both the sound design and the excellent mood pieces that make up Mark Isham's score fit so well to the scenes and overlaps creating a total atmosphere that I again recall the great collaborations of Leone/Morricone, Hitchcock/Herman and Lynch/Badalamenti. The acting is top notch every aspect of the film works amazingly well. This is a hardcore/hardboiled Neo Film Noir about melancholy and regret. Upon multiple re-watches 10/10

Legend says that, after seeing this film, Bon Jovi decided not to allow their ballade "Always" to be included in it, even though it was written for the film. It's their loss.Romeo is Bleeding is one of those films you either love or hate; it's energetic, unapologetic and raw. Not subtle at all. It goes between a perfect film noir and a parody of the genre. But the best thing about it is the fact it doesn't take itself too seriously.It is a story of a dirty cop and a mysterious, dangerous woman. Gary Odlman and Lena Olin are perfect in their roles, neatly over the top when situation demands it. They understand what kind of the film they're in, even if we don't get it; but everything fits so well at the end.No, it is not a serious, nostalgic film noir. Nor is a highly sexualized 90s crime drama along the lines of Basic Instinct. It's both, at the same time, and more. Some of the action - or sex - scenes will make you laugh, and at one point you might think what you're watching is pure trash. But somehow, it's part of the charm. Because even with the simple (and, dare to say, predictable) plot, this film manages to be unique and memorable.

But it is Oldman with his lack of inspiration who pushes this collection of random plagiarized film noir clichés into the self dug grave, as he moonwalks thru the entire movie obviously too stoned and drunk to let anything show on his wax like facial expression he carries around here. The script is a mess, as we are being served an already cold meal of voice-over detective story with a limp, ludicrous plot points like the one where Mona waits for Jack to arrive to kill her, just so she can talk him into killing Falcone and set her up with a new identity, him falling for it when he could have easily got out, as it was already clear he had to kill at least one person. They blame it on the voice, but actually it's the dumb alter ego of both director and writer who is at fault. And the casting director, because given some chemistry between Jack and Mona, his moves might have been more understandable. Oldman, terribly miscast here, fails to portray an average Joe, mainly due to his emotional over the top acting style, more fit for a conflicted crack addict, or a flamboyant pimp, but under no circumstances a functional guy in society. The slow witted story teller walks us thru what is supposed to make us witness the down fall of a guy who gets stuck inside his own web of mistakes, but as it turns out, the only part credible enough is the one where he drives himself into a pole losing all his leverage. The whole things rapidly plunges from laughable to dumb and pretentious crapolo, and finally to involuntarily breaking the fifth wall, and making the viewer search for the remote control. Terrible and boring. What a combo.