Bad Lieutenant
(2009)
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Bad Lieutenant
(2009)
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Nicolas Cage | ... | ||
| Eva Mendes | ... | ||
| Val Kilmer | ... | ||
| Xzibit | ... |
Big Fate
(as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner)
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| Fairuza Balk | ... | ||
| Shawn Hatosy | ... | ||
| Jennifer Coolidge | ... | ||
| Tom Bower | ... |
Pat McDonagh
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| Vondie Curtis-Hall | ... |
Captain James Brasser
(as Vondie Curtis Hall)
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| Brad Dourif | ... | ||
| Denzel Whitaker | ... | ||
| Irma P. Hall | ... | ||
| Shea Whigham | ... | ||
| Michael Shannon | ... | ||
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Joe Nemmers | ... |
Larry Moy
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After Katrina, police sergeant Terence McDonagh rescues a prisoner, hurts his back in the process and earns a promotion to lieutenant plus an addiction to cocaine and painkillers. Six months later, a family is murdered over drugs; Terence runs the investigation. His drug-using prostitute girlfriend, his alcoholic father's dog, run-ins with two old women and a well-connected john, gambling losses, a nervous young witness, and thefts of police property put Terence's job and then his life in danger. He starts seeing things. He wants a big score to get out from under mounting debts, so he joins forces with drug dealers. The murders remain unsolved. A bad lieutenant gets worse. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept 17, 2009.
First off it is important to note that the Bad Lieutenant name was imposed by producer Edward Pressman in the hopes of building a future franchise. As Herzog said, a better franchise would be based on his title Port of Call New Orleans. The combined title is a compromise which Werner Herzog was willing to agree to.
Herzog was fun as always at the introductory remarks and the Q&A with TIFF programmer Colin Geddes. Telling anecdotes such as Cage asking him on the 2nd day of shooting what is his motivation and Herzog telling him not to worry about that, just go with "Evil is bliss" and sometimes "let the pig out!" (from the Bavarian colloquialism "Die Sau rauslassen!" / "Las die Sau raus!").
I'll confess that I had my doubts about this one simply based on the BLt title alone, imagining that this was going to be some sort of embarrassing sequel that has been imposed on Herzog for some bizarre contractual obligation reason. Have no fear about that! This is a Herzog movie and a Nicolas Cage on-a-rampage movie with all that those both imply. Even if certain clichés of the genre are adhered to (the prostitute girlfriend, the father who is an ex-cop now "drinking himself to death", etc.) these end up having totally different plot resolutions than you'd expect. Cage's second scene confronting the matron lady and her hairdresser alone is worth the price of admission. I know they don't give Oscars for roles like this (actually, maybe for Denzel they did) but this is the best Nicholas Cage I've seen in years.
Comment at the Q&A "I have seen 20 movies at this festival, and this is the most entertaining of all of them!" I couldn't agree more (and BLt:PoCNO was my 22nd). BLt:PoCNO rocks and Herzog rules! Seen at the Elgin Theatre/VISA Screening Room, the 2nd screening of 3 at TIFF 2009.