Guncotton - A personal look at films

I watched this movie for the first time years ago - it's from 1996, actually - and it fascinated me. It was shown on TV yesterday and I was very pleased to see that it hasn't lost an ounce of its appeal. It's a truly film noir, with a taut storyline, well-defined characters and a beautiful photography. However, the action doesn't take place in the proverbial dark alleys but under the balmy Miami sun instead. And that simply adds more charm to the mix.

The cast is simply superb: Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Judy Davis, Stephen Dorff and a Jennifer Lopez pre-J.Lo crazy - it was that time when it seemed that Ms Lopez was interested in having a meaningful film career. Never mind that video with Ben Affleck; the woman really can act, if only she did it more often...


Nicholson plays Alex Gates, a wine merchant with a wife he no longer loves (Davies) and a sultry mistress (Lopez) he certainly would like to spend more time with. Alex uses his business to penetrate the circles of the rich and idle and, with the help of his partner Victor 'Vic' Spanski (Caine) - an emphysematic crook with a short temper - he steals all he can from them. His last exploit was the theft of a seriously expensive diamond necklace from the household where - oh happy chance - Jennifer Lopez's Gabriella worked as a nanny. How much aware Gabriella is about Alex's deals is unclear at the beginning, but as the movie progressess we learn that for someone that has arrived to the US coast as a balsera, there are worse things in life that releasing rich women from the burden of a couple of hundred carats...

Alex also has a difficult relationship with his stepson Jason (Dorff) that turns definitely sour when Alex decides to go to New York to sell the necklace and invites Gabriella to go with him. Judy Davies' Suzanne finds out about the romantic escapade and a violent fight ensues. It finishes with Suzanne and Jason on the run and Alex unconscious on the floor, after Suzanne has hit him with a golf club and taken the necklace from Alex.

From here, the film sticks by its tagline: "there is no honour among thieves" as all the parties involved try to play each other really hard. I would not like to give away the ending here, as it would be unfair to the very well-written plot and the tension among the characters. My suggestion is that you go to yout nearest DVD rental store and watch for yourself this magnificent example of elegant, refined and yet to-the-point cinema, that manages to be complex without being pretentious.