Prepare to be unnerved and racked to the very fabric of your soul. "Re-Animator" director Stuart Gordon has helmed a powerful, provocative film entitled "Edmond" with William H. Macy, Denise Richards, Julia Stiles, and a line-up of other familiar faces. The title character is a 47-year old white businessman that has a nervous breakdown and embarks on the odyssey of a lifetime. He abandons his wife because after they argue about an antique lamp being broken because he claims that she no longer turns him on either spiritually or sexually and he descends into a Dantesque inferno of whores, pimps, pawnbrokers, thieves, and murderers. Imagine the vintage Michael Douglas movie "Falling Down" crossed with the Robert DeNiro thriller "Taxi Driver," and you'll have an idea, but what "Edmond" delivers in its mere 82 minutes will blow your mind. The issue of racism gets batted about like a tennis ball until you wonder if under all of the leading character's racist statements that he really loves African-Americans and is a closet homosexual.
When the movie starts, Edmond (William H. Macy of "Sahara")learns that his boss has rescheduled a meeting with him after the weekend on Monday at 1:15 PM. As Edmond heads home, he passes a storefront business whose address matches the time of his future appointment with his boss and enters on a whim. A wizened, gray-haired, old woman (Frances Bay) reads Tarot cards and advises him the he "does not belong." Consequently, after he eats diner at home, Edmond abandonws his sexy wife (Rebecca Pigdeon of "Heist") and heads off for a drink at a bar. Everything that can go wrong for Edmond does, and he endures a 180 change of character. The profundity, violence, racism, and philosophizing is top drawer stuff courtesy of Chicago playwright David Mamet who wrote "The Untouchables" as well as the CBS-TV series "The Unit." Believe me, you've never see the likes of "Edmond." This is NOT a mainstream movie, and it is often quite offensive because it peels back layers and layers of hate and hypocrisy. One thing that "Edmond" is not is predictable and formulaic. Director Stuart Gordon usually specializes in colorful, over-the-top, low budget horror schlock, but "Edmond" is a movie where performances are special effects. The dialogue is typically Mamet with its poetic repetition that might drive some people up the wall. "Edmond" is guaranteed to make you forget any movie that you saw before "Edmond" and it will make most movies after you see "Edmond" seem like Diet Coke for the mindless. I got my copy from Movie Gallery in Aberdeen for three bucks. Wow, was it worth it. I cannot recommend it highly enough, but at the same time, it is for people who don't travel in the Hollywood rut.
When the movie starts, Edmond (William H. Macy of "Sahara")learns that his boss has rescheduled a meeting with him after the weekend on Monday at 1:15 PM. As Edmond heads home, he passes a storefront business whose address matches the time of his future appointment with his boss and enters on a whim. A wizened, gray-haired, old woman (Frances Bay) reads Tarot cards and advises him the he "does not belong." Consequently, after he eats diner at home, Edmond abandonws his sexy wife (Rebecca Pigdeon of "Heist") and heads off for a drink at a bar. Everything that can go wrong for Edmond does, and he endures a 180 change of character. The profundity, violence, racism, and philosophizing is top drawer stuff courtesy of Chicago playwright David Mamet who wrote "The Untouchables" as well as the CBS-TV series "The Unit." Believe me, you've never see the likes of "Edmond." This is NOT a mainstream movie, and it is often quite offensive because it peels back layers and layers of hate and hypocrisy. One thing that "Edmond" is not is predictable and formulaic. Director Stuart Gordon usually specializes in colorful, over-the-top, low budget horror schlock, but "Edmond" is a movie where performances are special effects. The dialogue is typically Mamet with its poetic repetition that might drive some people up the wall. "Edmond" is guaranteed to make you forget any movie that you saw before "Edmond" and it will make most movies after you see "Edmond" seem like Diet Coke for the mindless. I got my copy from Movie Gallery in Aberdeen for three bucks. Wow, was it worth it. I cannot recommend it highly enough, but at the same time, it is for people who don't travel in the Hollywood rut.