Movie 30 - Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Dir. Mike Figgis.
Let's end my 30-day, 30-movie challenge with the film that won Nicolas Cage, one of my favorite actors, his Oscar - Leaving Las Vegas.
Thank you to everyone who has read my movie reviews. Thanks for all the claps and views on Medium and all the views on my blog.
For now, I'm signing off.
Regards,
Pranav Veeraghanta.
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The review:
Wow, the movie is full of raw emotion and pain, it's difficult to describe how good this movie is.
Nicolas Cage, who plays Ben, and Elisabeth Shue, who plays Sera, were absolutely phenomenal. I'm devastated that Elisabeth did not win an Oscar for this role, she was absolutely phenomenal. Her character is full of trauma and pain and she does a wonderful job of portraying it. Nicolas Cage was just pure pain and sadness. It is never revealed why he drinks, but seeing him in a "happy" state when drunk makes you think, 'maybe that's why he's drunk,' to remain in the high.
The story and the ending are so soul-crushing. The effects of alcoholism on a person's life are portrayed so well here. Generally, in movies and TV shows, when it is shown someone has alcohol issues, they are still able to become a perfect person in the morning and go to work, which feels fake. This movie is the best representation of it by showing how it impacts your thinking, your life, your relationships, showing how you cannot live without it and yearn every second for it when you don't have it.
Throughout the movie, Sera is trying to help Ben because I believe she sees someone who does not judge her the way others do.
The movie does not have a happy ending or anything happy in it. The movie does not bring you any sense of hope, and it's a good thing. Often in life, we think that good things will eventually happen, but it's not always that way. Some people are destined to be alone, some are destined to be sad.
The movies realism is what makes it sad and hard to watch.
The movie does an excellent job of not beating around the bush and just admits that life is hard. The story is just depressing and will leave a mark on someone who watches it.
The end of Ben drinking till he dies and Sera talking to her therapist and hopefully leaving Las Vegas brings some sense of relief to me as they both got what they wanted.
In the end, we are in control of our lives. Surprisingly, after seeing the movie, I was washed over with a sense of sorrow and unhappiness in my life, and I felt the need to make it better. I've never had any issues so far regarding drinking or abuse, but seeing what Ben and Sera went through is heartbreaking and depressing, as there truly are people in the world going through these tough situations and often have no one around.
10/10
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