Film Reviews

Factotum

• Rating:
• Director: Bent Hamer.
• Starring: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei.
• Details: US/93 mins (16s).

Henry 'Hank' Chinaski (Dillon) is a tough-talking loner who wanders from job to job, drink to drink, woman to woman while "fighting the only good fight there is" - writing. Problem? No one wants to publish his work. His self-imposed squalor and malcontented exile is disrupted when he hooks up with Jan (Taylor) - a tough-talking, hard-drinking, jealous woman who shares in his love for the track and can dish out as much sh*t as Hank can give. Their troublesome relationship disintegrates when Hank meets alcoholic Laura (Tomei), but Hank is a restless soul and soon moves on. Based on the novel of Charles Bukowski, Factotum is probably the bleakest, most desolate film to be released this year. The writer has a reputation for unflinching down-and-out grim novels and this adaptation serves him well. Although he is too handsome to play Bukowski's alter ego, Dillon makes a return to form here, delivering a performance of perfection while the rest of the cast downplay their performances to coincide with Dillon's uninviting interpretation. Never saying more than six words at a time, the world-weary, tired voiceover and stilted dialogue is complimented by Hamer's direction. Hamer never encroaches on the action and lets the stark scenes play out to their grisly end. Hardly ever moving the camera, Hamer relies on his superb cast to get the job done. As Chinaski says: "Words as necessary things, not precious things."

Review by Gavin Burke