Icarus Descending (1998)

Hayden K. Lorry is a British military operative who gets embroiled in a caper to track down an ancient Grecian Urn, called the Icarus Urn, or more appropriately named, the "Urn of Death." ... See full summary »

Directors:

Steve Edwards, Todd Mei

Writers:

Steve Edwards, Todd Mei

Stars:

Philip Ayckbourn, Julie Rivier, David Brainard

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Philip Ayckbourn	...	Hayden Lorry
Julie Rivier	...	Lizbeth Hiver
David Brainard	...	Manny Varjak
Todd Mei	...	Johnny Sing
Sam Parks	...	Professor Arthur Ayers
Robin Mukherjee	...	Godwin Keyes
Andrew Balmforth	...	Tolly Martin
Marissa Afton	...	Ginny Novak
Binky Greene	...	Dick Delieuze
Nick Harris	...	Riordan
David Crockford	...	Rock Thompson
Valentin Gerlier	...	Joseph Bannion, Lounge Piano Player
Robin Wilkowski	...	Hitwoman
Elvira Tanassescu	...	Lilith Alisdaire
Steve Edwards	...	Rico Boyer

Storyline

Hayden K. Lorry is a British military operative who gets embroiled in a caper to track down an ancient Grecian Urn, called the Icarus Urn, or more appropriately named, the "Urn of Death." Lisabeth O'Shaughnessy is the elusive femme fatale who seduces Lorry into thinking he can save both himself and O'Shaughnessy by locating the urn. But who is O'Shaughnessy: needing and vulnerable damsel or complotting and villainous dame? Meanwhile, a myriad of hit men affiliated with various organizations, including the Alexander Boys (the gay mob), are trying to track down both the urn and Lorry.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to william shakespeare | reference to shakespeare's hamlet | reference to plato | reference to immanuel kant | rye | 

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Details

Country:

USA

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Yegg Central

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Twenty-eight of the locations used were found in a 48-hour period by the directors before the first day of filming.

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Quotes

Manny Varjak: Lily-livered? Two-bit? Sodajerk? I'm the number one man in this world, see... There's not one yegg from Somaliland to Kingdom Come who can usurp me. Top of the world, I'm on top of the world!

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Connections

References The Killers (1946)

User Reviews

Beguiling

As Arthur Ayers says 'We understand Plato and Kant better than they understood themselves' and so the same can be said for the writers, the viewers understand the film better than Mei and Edwards! The story is interesting, based in an anachronistic period of time, a rather peculiar leading lady, sadly the weakest link and a clever use of philosophy, archaeology and Shakespeare. Best viewed inebriated with a cocktail shaker in one hand and a chilled Martini in the other. If there's one thing I learnt from this film, it's the fact that London is closer to the cliffs of the South Coast than I originally thought. I plan to do the same run the killers did in the CHASE.