GEORGE HICKENLOOPER
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.
USA, 2001. CineSon Entertainment, Fireworks Pictures, Gold Circle Films, Pfilmco, Shoreline Entertainment, TVA International. Screenplay by Phillip Jayson Lasker. Cinematography by Kramer Morgenthau. Produced by Andy Garcia, David Kronemeyer, Andrew Pfeffer, Donald Zuckerman. Music by Anthony Marinelli. Production Design by Franckie Diago. Costume Design by Matthew Jacobsen. Film Editing by Michael Brown.
Andy Garcia plays a novelist whose best work has gone to the bottom of the bargain fiction pile. Having immense trouble supporting his family with his writing, he accepts an offer from a swanky gigolo (Mick Jagger) to work as a male escort for Elysian Fields, a high-class prostitution racket. His star client ends up becoming the lonely wife (Olivia Williams) to a rich and famous writer (James Coburn) who doesn’t mind his spouse getting her physical satisfaction elsewhere. When Coburn realizes Garcia’s talent as a writer, he enlists his services to help finish the book he is writing. The characters are sympathetic, but you’re never really sure what the movie is supposed to be about, and George Hickenlooper’s direction is only halfheartedly devoted to the process. The film features a terrific cameo by Anjelica Huston as Jagger’s sole client who manages to steal his heart and then crush it.
Toronto International Film Festival: 2001
