Fond memories of one of the loopiest lead performances of the last 20 years – Mickey Rourke’s in “Barfly” – are rekindled with the release of “Factotum.”
Rourke’s ether-filled turn was based on writer Charles Bukowski, who wrote the autobiographical screenplay of “Barfly.” “Factotum” is based on Bukowski’s second novel, and once again the main character is a dead ringer for the author.
This time, however, the performance isn’t transforming. And the movie suffers as a result.
Matt Dillon plays Henry Chinaski, a writer who staggers through a series of very brief employment situations (chopping ice, sorting pickles, training as a taxi driver). These allow him the money to ingest as much alcohol as a human being can possibly ingest.
He carries on sporadic romances with a couple of equally down-and-out women, played by Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei. At one point, he develops a system for winning at the racetrack, but like so much else in his life, this simply peters out (we never do find out why, or even if, his winning streak ends).
All the while, Chinaski is sending manuscripts to a publisher, hoping to get his break. This is the one thing that distinguishes his existence, helped by the fact that the audience knows that the real Bukowski did, in fact, become a famous writer.
Although there is voiceover narration, the film doesn’t capture Bukowski’s insistence that his drop-out life was a subversive act against the system. Here, Chinaski is more of a stumblebum with good one-liners.
Norwegian director Bent Hamer understands the deadpan humor of this style. His previous film, “Kitchen Stories,” was a wonderfully droll comedy.
“Factotum” was shot in some grimy locations in Minneapolis, including an amazing brick factory building with a lone window (one of the best shots in the film). Somehow, Bukowski’s boozy romanticism needs a period look, and there’s something jarring about the 2006 setting.
By virtue of his performance in “Drugstore Cowboy,” Matt Dillon would seem an acceptable choice for playing Bukowski’s alter ego. The actor tries hard, and his film-noir voice is right. But he lacks the sense of a man who carries on crazy adventures in life while simultaneously filing them away for future writing purposes.
This doesn’t kill the movie, which has an amusing, shambling appeal. The whole enterprise is just a little safe – and Bukowski needs more violence and tenderness to really hit the mark.
Matt Dillon stars in “Factotum.”
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