The Last Seduction
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Movie Reviews of The Last Seduction
Movie Review: Dark thriller, best of it's kind
Summary: 5 Stars
this is one of the darkest erotic movies i've ever seen, a clever one too, sex scenes are a bit too fake, the plot is stong and achieved it's key and star cast Linda, Bill Pullman and Peter Berg are amazing. 8/10.Movie Review: Remarkably stylish, heavily rooted in reality, interesting
Summary: 4 Stars
The Last Seduction (1994) is remarkably stylish, with an
intellectually mature story, heavily rooted in reality, even 15
years later.
Linda Fiorentino plays a Machevellian 30-ish woman, having the
looks of a younger lady, with a classic beauty, very feminine
and seductive in a number of different scenarios, but who uses
precisely that attribute to her advantage in manipulating men,
some of whom are weaker than others to her notable presence.
She starts out as a manager in a boiler room, overseeing high
pressure sales reps pushing commemorative coins, but quickly
sets her ambitions much higher, to bigger dollar amounts, in
conjunction with her husband, played here by Bill Pullman, (who
holds his own in terms of street smarts.)
She double crosses Pullman's character, wanting all of the loot
for herself from a joint narcotics sale that went off.
Peter Berg plays a simple-minded, small town man of the same
age, who is torn between his righteous upbringing, strong
natural sense of morality, that is jeopardized by the behavior
of Fiorentino's character. The latter demonstrating a megacity,
hyper-competitive, largely-experienced, jaded, cerebral, cynical
state of mind, in this particular case, of Brooklyn, with
profits at any price, dog-eat-dog and so on. She combine those
talents with her capacity to inflame Berg with her femininity
spontaneously.
The visual aspects work well, for this particular movie, as a
classic style is exhibited by Fiorentino's character time and
again, such as by her gold watch, classic but provocative
clothes, with a few naked shots to boot, of both Berg and
herself, emphasizing the over-extended libido felt by both
characters, at the same time as one their devious plans.
The criminal tendencies of Fiorentino's character are
demonstrated at the same time as her lack of rigor in her own
personal conduct: throwing off her wedding ring, spitting
chewing gum on the street, licking a dollar bill, using a men's
washroom (not the women's), spontaneously having relations
anywhere (outside a club, in a car, on her office desk), using
profanity, reaching for private parts, spitting out her food,
extinguishing a cigarette on a pie, etc.) The character is also
shown as having no notion of ethics, or of the policy of
confidentiality touching upon client lists of her employer, as
she dreams up ways of making millions off life insurance
policies she will manipulate.
From the above discussion, the movie is a success story in terms
of style, with a tiny bit of voyeurism, for those appreciating
the actress' classic beauty (looks, clothes, etc.) and apparent
down to earth present, yet sophistication, as compared to what
is the norm in the media.
While not a wide-screen release, the filming is spotless, the
music accompaniment is rooted in jazz, the story extremely well
articulated, and relevant to today. There are no subtitles.
Movie Review: Fun, cheesy neo-noir.
Summary: 4 Stars
The Last Seduction (John Dahl, 1994)
That John Dahl's made-for-cable flick The Last Seduction ever got a theatrical release-- after its cable debut-- is pretty remarkable. That it subsequently wound up on any list of the thousand-best films ever made is astonishing. That it ended up on four of the ten lists of this type of whose existence I am currently aware is the stuff of Hollywood legend.
It's about Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino, recently of Liberty Stands Still), a nasty sort who first ruins her husband's life, then heads off into the sunset, landing by chance in the tiny town of Beston, New York. In Beston, she hopes to lay low until her divorce is final, but two things prevent that from happening. One is that her husband would like the $700,000 she stole from him back, and hires a private investigator (Bill Nunn, from the Spider-Man franchise) to track her down. The other is her own nature; she can't exist somewhere without conning someone. So she gets involved with a local guy, Mike Swale (Smokin' Aces' Peter Berg), using the insurance company they both work for to look for women who might be better off with their husbands six feet underground.
I have to say that five minutes into this, I didn't think I was going to like it. The opening is far too slow-paced and talky, especially for a scene that exists simply to set up the main conflict in the movie. It could've been done in half the time. Once the movie actually gets going, though, it's a great deal of fun. Fiorentino owns this character; it's widely believe that, had the movie not shown on HBO before getting a theatrical release, Fiorentino would have nabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. And while it takes some time for all the pieces of the plot to get set up, once it starts rolling, it's got momentum to spare. (Fans of The Usual Suspects will recognize the plot structure here, I'm sure.) I still don't think it's Dahl's best work-- Rounders is pretty tough to beat-- but it's certainly much better than its initial lack of distribution would convey. ***
Movie Review: LINDA FIORENTINO IN SEXY NOIR!
Summary: 4 Stars
In "THE LAST SEDUCTION",a modern day film noir Linda Fiorentino plays Bridget Gregory a sexy, ruthless b**ch (only GINA GERSHON could be better) who uses men like tissue paper.Bridget steals $700,000 from her husband (Bill Pullman,as a drug dealer) and then she takes it on the lamb,landing in upstate New York,were she assumes a new identity and a new boyfriend.The boyfriend,played by Peter Berg,is totally used,for sex and more,by the amoral Bridget.Linda gives the performance of a lifetime,without her forceful performance,this film would go by unnoticed.Linda is GREAT,and it is a shame that she hasn't been given more decent roles since this one,which was in 1994.Linda also had a sexy,but more sympathic role in the very so/so "Jade".The only other actress that could do justice to the "Bridget" character is the amazing,and ill used,GINA GERSHON.The late,great J.T.Walsh also appears in the film,as Bridgets lawyer/ex-lover(?).The DVD has NO extras which is a shame.Movie Review: What Will This Bad Woman Do Next?
Summary: 4 Stars
Yikes, talk about a nasty woman! Man, few modern-day actresses come across this film-noir tough as Linda Fiorentino. She's brutal: ill-mannered, foul- mouthed, has no principles, a totally twisted view of life and no conscience. Other than that, she's a nice girl.
Even worse than her is the ending of the film, which I won't divulge here. Also the DVD needs a better transfer and it needs English subtitles (closed captioning.)
Yet, the movie was very interesting and somewhat involving. Once it starts, it's tough to put down. Peter Berg plays a small-town sap who is captivated by this beast from Hell and pays for it.
This is about as tough as modern-day film noir gets, a mean-edged flick with no sympathetic characters.....but it can be fascinating to watch, wondering what this woman is going to do next.