Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Kino

Love the Hard Way

Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Love the Hard Way." Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna star in this drama about a thief who falls for a curious, beautiful young woman. As their intimacy grows, a slick cop (Pam Greer) is closing in.

Studio: United Artists Films

Rating: R

Release Date: Oct 27, 1995

Running Time: 112 mins.

Country Of Origin: United States

starring: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Kim Adams, Emily Procter, Stuart Regen, Valeria Golino, Graham Beckel

director: Mike Figgis

An avowed alcoholic, Ben drank away his family, friends and, finally, his job. With deliberate resolve, he burns the remnants of his life and heads for Las Vegas to end it all in one final binge. On the strip, Ben picks up a street-smart hooker named Sera in what might have been another excess in his self-destructive jag. Instead their chance meeting becomes a respite on the road to oblivion as something connects between these two disenfranchised souls.

December 8, 2000

Who the hell wants to see a movie about a Vegas hooker who finds time between rough trade to fall for a screenwriter bent on taking the last booze train to oblivion? You do, if you want to experience a uniquely hypnotic and haunting love story sparked by Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue at their career best. The film, directed by Mike Figgis from an autobiographical 1991 novel by John O'Brien, is a tragedy that unspools with astonishing buoyancy and sneaky wit, as if no one told the lovers their…