City of Ghosts
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Matt Dillon, Natascha McelhoneBrand: DILLON,MATT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 116 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-10-28
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of City of Ghosts
Movie Review: Extremely powerful movie telling the tale of a Ponzi scheme fugitive
Summary: 5 Stars
CITY OF GHOSTS is an extremely powerful movie, telling a story that
will pull the audience's intellectual, moral, rational and emotional
strings, but may lie outside of the grasp of the younger audiences,
with lower IQ's.
The strengths of this picture, is its no-nonsense, mature approach in
telling the tale of a Ponzi scheme creator, an insurance company that
had no underlying reserves and no intentions in paying any claims
that could arise from the policies underwritten. These were popular
from their under-priced competitiveness, sold by Matt Dillon. Of
course, when a hurricane hits Florida, the Carolinas, and people
submit claims for their losses, the owner disappears, leaving many
home owners destitute, the company decapitalized as all $10 m of
premiums were funnelled into the Cayman Isles and Swiss numbered bank
accounts, beyond the reach of regulators.
Matt Dillon and James Caan, demonstrate extreme acting skill, and
credibility, with a subtle, meaningful presence throughout the 90
mins. Natasha McElhone has a natural, shining presence playing an
archeologist.
The cinematography is simply excellent, in all filming situations,
night, day, action scenes and not, with a quasi-wide screen release
that is sharp, clear and well edited.
The soundtrack is also equally outstanding, with immense discernment
in the numbers selected, in the many tense moments. It is able to
enhance a multitude of emotions, and moods set in the film, some
reminiscent of the Louis Armstrong style in the saloons, other times,
popular music from Cambodia, and Thailand, were the entirety of the
film unfolds.
Intelligently, the script touches upon the various foreign heritage
of the area, with Gerard Depardieu playing a hotel owner and barman
in Phnom Penh (French colonial presence), shows one or two burnt out
former US military, and a group of "rave-scene" party goers from the
UK and USA doing tourism.
Wisely, the Director chose to film the more historical aspects with
many artistic shots and choices of streets, its people, merchants,
ancient ruins, cultural practices, etc. Seeing taxis in the form of a
tri-cycle pedaled by human power or other taxis on a low cylinder
motorcycle engine with a single passenger seat will be intriging, as
are the hotels with baboons climbing the windows, or snakes and
elephants in the streets.
An aspect that will worry the audience, throughout, is the morality
and the character of the individuals who are comparable to quicksand.
The characters dealing with those who ran the Ponzi, and laundered
the profits (Russian mobsters), often think they have a firm footing,
only to be later fooled, as double crossing, houses of mirrors are
put up to trap unsuspecting marks, in or out of their own
organization.
The Third World status nature of those locales is reinforced, as the
film shows still existing mine-fields, devastated farm
infrastructure, high ranking officials leaking the identities of
incoming visitors arriving at the airport to the mobsters, corrupted
law enforcement. The fact that those powerful government officials
are all military underlines that those are not democracies.
The poverty aspect is not hidden. The lack of safety in public
streets, against kidnapping, random brutality from thugs is not
surprising, since no city is safe at all times, in every single
place, especially for tourists.
Some aspects, may be difficult to stomach for some audiences, such as
executions, kidnapping, ransoms, or the absolute power of those
holding cold hard cash in a nation with a big disparity of incomes.
Clearly, this story will leave the audience in the theatres immensely
satisfied in having been taken on this dream-like voyage, showing the
horrible human consequences of certain wrong choices, in this case,
the embezzlement of funds.
Summary of City of Ghosts
There are places where your eyes deceive you, your thoughts betray you and desire can get you killed. Matt Dillon (Wild Things) makes his directorial debut and stars with James Caan (Misery), Natascha McElhone (Solaris), Gerard Depardieu (The Man in the Iron Mask) and Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd (Ronin) in this "exotic" (Film Threat) crime thriller that "drips withatmosphere" (The Hollywood Reporter). After a bogus insurance scam sparks an FBI investigation, front man Jimmy Cremmins (Dillon) flees to Cambodia to meet his mentor, Marvin (Caan). But Jimmy gets more than he bargains for whenagainst a backdrop of raw, dangerous beauty and ever-shifting loyaltiesMarvin draws him into a web of deceit and murder from which there may be no way out!Despite its brief theatrical release and dismal box-office returns, City of Ghosts marked an impressive directorial debut for Matt Dillon. While transplanting a film noir plot to exotic locations that John Huston might've found inviting, Dillon plays to his strengths as an actor, casting himself as a con artist with a guilty conscience, traveling to Cambodia to locate his unscrupulous mentor and partner (James Caan) and extricate himself from a career of bilking innocent victims. The dangerous territory includes a two-faced schemer (Stellan Skarsgård), a burly French hotelier (Gerard Depardieu), and an alluring architectural restorer (Natascha McElhone) tossed in for obligatory love interest, and Dillon (with cowriter and Wild at Heart author Barry Gifford) creates an engrossing sense of escalating danger as his character sinks into a quagmire of personal and political corruption. Humid atmosphere and colorful scenery add depth and texture to the film's familiar pulp-fictional trappings, suggesting a promising new direction for Dillon's offbeat career. --Jeff Shannon
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