You Kill Me

I’ve enjoyed the films of John Dahl that I’ve seen so far. Red Rock West is delightfully evil, and The Last Seduction is simply one of the absolute best I’ve ever seen. Linda Fiorentino should have gotten an Oscar nomination—and won! This was by far the best performance of 1994, lots better than the winner, Jessica Lange, who I don’t even remember … only it was shown on TV first, and thus was ineligible. Rounders was good, too. He tells hard, relentless stories that don’t cheat the viewer, and that is priceless. This time he goes for a lighter touch … and it almost works, but not quite. Ben Kingsley is a hit man with a bad drinking problem. When he falls asleep while waiting for a man he’s supposed to be killing, his boss tells him to join AA. He does, reluctantly, in denial, and some of these scenes are funny, where he’s talking about his old job. He meets and falls for Téa Leoni, who I’ve loved in films like Flirting With Disaster. Here’s a very beautiful woman who’s good with comedy, something just a little off-center about her. I guess the big problem was the chemistry wasn’t there for me. She’s 41 and gorgeous, he’s 64 and … not. He’s not very charismatic, either. I don’t know why she liked him.