Alrighty folks, here's Sir Gromit and his look at BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. Now, as I pointed out in the review that was posted last Friday, you should be aware that this movie is VERY far from coming out and is due to have quite a bit of tweaking here and there to make it... just so. SOOOOooo, don't rush to judge. Sir Gromit here is merely commenting on the current state of the film, which is 4 months from release. Beware of Spoilers, and note that some of the problems he has with the film may in fact not be in the print you will see months from now. But... here you go....

Thursday night I had the wonderful opportunity to see Martin Scorsese's latest movie "Bringing Out The Dead". My friends and I were even skipped ahead in line thanks to a very cool dude working for the screening people. If you are reading this, we thank you.

I had seen them filming this movie here in NYC twice. In fact, when they were wetting the streets for one scene they sprayed down my car as we drove by. We then drove right by an ambulance being pulled by a camera truck, and inside was Nick Cage. Pretty cool! Ebert fans should take note: This movie takes place almost entirely at night, and as you know, that means that the street is wet all the time! Never rains in the movie though (at least I don't remember it raining in the movie!).

This movie is in a very early stage of post production. As Mr. Knowles stated, this is not how the final movie will be. However, I'm under the impression that most of the people they get to come to these advance screenings care more about the fact that it's a free film, and do not fully understand the purpose of these screenings. The screenings are done for the purpose of finding out what works and what doesn't in order for the film maker to get an outside view of his/her movie. Also, these screenings serve as a way for the distributor to figure out ways to market the movie at it's final release. I am writing this not as a review of the movie, but in order to express my feelings of this early print and give what hopefully is constructive criticism, to write down all that I could not fit into the questionnaire handed out at the end of the film.

Although I haven't read the book on which the movie is based, my feeling is that this movie is quite good considering its early state and that it will be quite close to brilliant when all the necessary "tweaking" has been done. There is no doubt that Scorsese is a talented director, and he and his team will be able to get things right by October 22nd.

This movie is essentially about a NYC EMS guy working the night shift over the course of a few days. But there are many other elements which are essential to the story of this movie.

We are introduced to Nick Cage's character as a somewhat crazy guy trying to deal with all that he sees as a result of his job. His madness is brought on as a result of continuously seeing the ghost of a girl who died while he tried to save her. The theme of the ghost is important in the movie and is predominant through most of the first third of the movie, but then it is almost completely forgotten before reappearing near the end of the movie. The ghost is important in understanding the nature of Nick Cage's character, but needs to be woven throughout the entire movie, instead of appearing in what seemed to be a "forced" sequence at the end of the film. I say that this sequence is forced because of the fact that the ghost was so integral to the beginning of the film, that by the time it reappeared in the final third of the movie, the theme involving the ghost was resolved too quickly and seemed almost as an afterthought.

Another reoccurring theme is that of drugs, and more specifically that of a particular drug known as "Red Death". This theme in the movie is not resolved at all and it is unsure what purpose it serves in the movie.

The madness of Nick Cage's character (Frank Prince) is the third main theme and is contrasted by the more comical nature of his various partners in the movie, played by. All of them have a different way of dealing with their jobs. Nick Cage enters madness, and the rest resort to various forms of what I can only describe as "humor" to cope. There are many "jokes" made by various medical characters in the movie which out of context would be very cruel and mean, but this movie clearly shows it for what it is.

The Frank Prince character reminds me very much of Hamlet. Both are characters where in who's madness it is difficult to tell if they are truly mad or not, and both have begun to go mad after having seen a ghost. It is this aspect of the character that makes me want to read the book on which the film is based.

Nick Cage's acting is far better than that of his recent movies such as "8MM". In that movie he also plays a character who has to cope with a harsh reality. But here he does not seem to be just "acting" or going through the motions of the film, rather he brings to life the character which he plays.

The supporting cast is outright fabulous. My only problem is that some of their characters aren't fully developed and don't have the time they need to at least resolve their roles in the film. John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore each play a different partner which Nick Cage has throughout the film. However, he goes from each partner one by one and each one just disappears. These three characters are never in a scene together and despite being very involving characters, I felt that they didn't have the time they needed to fully contribute to the movie. There is so much more about these characters which is never revealed. Whether or not that is how the movie should be is not clear. Because of the strength of their performances and the complexity of the characters, it is a shame that they are gone so quickly. One note about these actor's driving abilities: If only they would keep their eyes on the road when driving! Another one of Ebert's movie glossary entries. A lot of the movie takes place inside an ambulance, specifically while driving. Having driven in NYC myself, I am well aware of how crazy some drivers in Manhattan (yeah, Taxis too) are, and that keeping your eyes glued to surrounding events is not a luxury, but a must!

The setting is so perfectly brought to the screen that walking back home afterwards was a very different experience. NYC has never been so vividly been filmed (at least as well as I can recall). Although most of the movie takes place at night or in dark alleys and so on, there is always an abundance of color, and in the darkest of hallways it is still clear what is going on, while maintaining the dark eerie atmosphere of late night NYC. The lighting is great and is used very well in many key scenes. Changes in brightness occur very slowly and are subtle, and because the movie takes place at night it allows for the light that is available to be used in new and interesting ways.

The movie is constructed using groups of threes. Nick Cage has 3 partners, he has to deal with three "demons" including his madness, the red death, and the people of the city itself, and also the movie is divided into thirds: The long introduction, a very intermixed middle, and a more abrupt end. I think that all these groups of threes need to be better blended together so that they work together rather than against each other.

The editing of the film was very good considering the early state of the movie. There are some masterfully edited sequences in the movie involving some very interesting camera angles and fast moving shots. However, I felt that the pacing of the movie dragged on a little to slowly in the beginning of the movie. It took too long to figure out what the movie was "about" and what was really going on. The film itself is distracted by all the different things which are happening throughout, and a proper balance of all these various elements needs to be woven together. The ending of the movie was a popular topic I heard discussed after the movie was over. Some thought that it was boring, while others (including myself) thought it fit the movie. I thought that the movie could not have really ended any other way. It is not a "Hollywood" style happy ending, nor a tragic one. The ending is where everything in the movie should be resolved, but it is not so in this print of the movie. It is an ending that will have to find a way to resolve all the elements which are intertwined within each other.

After having seen this early version of the film, I am truly excited about the possibilities of how the final version can turn out. I can't wait to see it again.

I hope that this piece has answered some questions you may have had about this movie, although I tried to avoid as many spoilers as possible. But the main thing I tired to do was to keep things in context which probably explains why I repeated myself so many times. =)