This film kicks my teeth in in the most beautiful way every time I watch it.

Whenever an artist manages to combine and contrast beauty and reality I'm always sucked in without reservation, often leaving me wrecked but smiling. Figgis, Cage and Shue made promises here they unfortunately never kept in their later careers.

The notion of a man leaving everything behind to drink himself to death in the capital of sin is as strong as it is fraught with the danger of skirting melodrama. Figgis manages to walk this tightrope really well as he is as unrelenting for his audience as Cage's character is for himself. He cuts no corners and unveils two lives that meet, linked in misfortune,…

Film #58 of Project 90

”We both know that I'm a drunk. And I know you are a hooker.”

This is tragedy in its purest and most upsetting form, Leaving Las Vegas is a bitter, shattering and emotionally crushing story of failure, desolation and woe, it masterfully portrays how easily the glamour and happiness of a human being’s life can turn into ashes and how sorrow and melancholy can easily replace joy and delight. It is a film that attaches itself to your mind and soul, the hopelessness of its universe will surely put you in a state of shock for some time and with its morally devastating portrayal of a human being’s gradual collapse it is an experience that…

Included In Lists:
Strong Performances - Elisabeth Shue

Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas explores the tortured souls of our world, left with nothing but a burden to themselves that often radiates around them when indulged in their devilish addictions. They stumble upon together in the most unfortunate but beautiful of circumstances, a near-miss that stays in one’s mind, and when encountered once again it becomes a relationship that blossoms within them, a pairing that becomes as deep as their addictions; his a bottle by side, and her a man to care. Tragedies have placed them within these circumstances, and it is evident that underneath their acceptance is a layer of sorrow and regret, but life forces you to move forward…

Face/Off is my all time favorite Nic Cage performance but what he does in Leaving Las Vegas is the undisputed high mark of his career. Sure its fun to see The Immortal One ham it up in films like Con Air and The Rock but his portrayal of a destructive alcoholic in this film, which netted him an Oscar, (suck it Leo) is the real sight to behold.

Now, a film about a human tornado of liquor that would give even Jim Lahey the whiskey sweats doesnt make for the most compelling of dramas, so Elizabeth Shue's character of a conflicted prostitute who befriends the broken man acts as the films counterbalance. Eventually the film becomes less about Cage's character…