Croupier (1998)
Country: EIRE/GER/FR/GB
Technical: col 94m
Director: Mike Hodges
Cast: Clive Owen, Kate Hardie, Alex Kingston, Gina McKee, Alexander Morton
Synopsis:
A South African former casino worker who despises gamblers comes to London in search of a novel, and finds one when his ne'er-do-well father gets him a job as a croupier.
Review:
The hero's dispassionate nature is tolerable so long as he retains the moral respect of the viewer; he gradually relinquishes that as he explores what the character in his novel would do and starts to break the rules. At the same time he becomes more human. The film's dissection of casino life is less grandiloquent than Scorsese's but no less compelling, and with the hero's commentary distancing somewhat from the action we have the impression we are watching the book rather than the reality at times. A stylish and thoughtful 'small picture', rather foreshadowing of Dirty Pretty Things.
Country: EIRE/GER/FR/GB
Technical: col 94m
Director: Mike Hodges
Cast: Clive Owen, Kate Hardie, Alex Kingston, Gina McKee, Alexander Morton
Synopsis:
A South African former casino worker who despises gamblers comes to London in search of a novel, and finds one when his ne'er-do-well father gets him a job as a croupier.
Review:
The hero's dispassionate nature is tolerable so long as he retains the moral respect of the viewer; he gradually relinquishes that as he explores what the character in his novel would do and starts to break the rules. At the same time he becomes more human. The film's dissection of casino life is less grandiloquent than Scorsese's but no less compelling, and with the hero's commentary distancing somewhat from the action we have the impression we are watching the book rather than the reality at times. A stylish and thoughtful 'small picture', rather foreshadowing of Dirty Pretty Things.
Country: EIRE/GER/FR/GB
Technical: col 94m
Director: Mike Hodges
Cast: Clive Owen, Kate Hardie, Alex Kingston, Gina McKee, Alexander Morton
Synopsis:
A South African former casino worker who despises gamblers comes to London in search of a novel, and finds one when his ne'er-do-well father gets him a job as a croupier.
Review:
The hero's dispassionate nature is tolerable so long as he retains the moral respect of the viewer; he gradually relinquishes that as he explores what the character in his novel would do and starts to break the rules. At the same time he becomes more human. The film's dissection of casino life is less grandiloquent than Scorsese's but no less compelling, and with the hero's commentary distancing somewhat from the action we have the impression we are watching the book rather than the reality at times. A stylish and thoughtful 'small picture', rather foreshadowing of Dirty Pretty Things.