Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 26, 1994 TAG: 9402260050
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Like last year's "True Romance," it's a wild mixture of violence and sex that tries to make virtues of its excesses. For those who can tune into the film's mordant humor, it's a fine guilty pleasure. Those who are looking for a story more sensible and realistic are not likely to be entertained.
The two central figures are Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman), a corrupt cop, and Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin), a professional hitwoman who really loves her work. Jack has squirrelled away a tidy little retirement fund by fingering people in the witness protection program to the local mob. Neither his wife, Natalie (Annabella Sciorra), nor his mistress, Sheri (Juliette Lewis), knows about his stash.
In fact, Jack has managed to juggle his complex business and personal affairs fairly well until they come crashing together. When the feds get hold of Mona, Jack is ordered to guard her, but the dapper Don Falcone (Roy Scheider) wants him to kill her. Mona herself makes a third provocative offer. After that, the story gets seriously complicated.
To reveal any more of it would spoil the fun. Writer-producer Hilary Henkin never forgets the first rule of guilty pleasures - any character can be killed at any time - and she doesn't let common sense get in the way. This movie just gets stranger and stranger as it goes along. Even though the pace moves slowly at times, much of the connective tissue has been eliminated. Those short scenes and speeches that would explain what's happening aren't there, and so it's impossible to become too involved.
Director Peter Medak handles this twisted material with the same deft touch that he brought to another fine, offbeat gangster film, "The Krays." He also gives the action a gritty, grainy texture that isn't pretty, but it certainly fits.
The two leads do exceptional work. Considering his roles in "JFK," "State of Grace" and "Criminal Law," Oldman is an old hand at this kind off-center character. The surprise is Lena Olin. Though she has been known for more restrained performances in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "Enemies, a Love Story," she rips this film from everyone else on screen. The role demands a full-tilt, no-prisoners approach, and she delivers it. In spades.
Again, it wouldn't be fair to give the game away, but "Romeo Is Bleeding" contains elements that you've never seen in a mainstream Hollywood movie. They don't give Oscars for this kind of material. If they did, Olin, Oldman, Henkin and Medak would be at the top of the nominee-lists for audacity and originality.
\ Romeo Is Bleeding ***
A Gramercy release playing at The Grandin Theatre. 118 min. Rated R for graphic, imaginative, I-can't-believe-what-I'm-watching violence, strong language, sexual content, brief nudity.
by CNB