Romeo Is Bleeding

1993

Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Roy Schieder, Juliette Lewis, Annabella Sciorra

Well, im not quite sure about this one......

Romeo is Bleeding tells the story of a corrupt police sergeant, Jack Grimaldi (Oldman)  who thinks he has it all but foolishly wants more. He likes sex and money and is willing to flout his authority to get it.He has a loving wife, Natalie (Sciorra) and an equally beautiful mistress, Sheri (Lewis).....and he feeds his hole in the back garden, like a father would feed a child, with the dirty money he gains from his dealings with the mafia.
Mob leader, Schieder, wants Mona Demarkov dead and Grimaldi is the man for the job......however, Demarkov is dangerous, beautiful and seductive and Jack is weak......Promising him much more money than the mob to fake her death, Demarkov leads Jack into a downward spiral of cat and mouse which is going to lead to one of them dead....

Sounds good doesn't it........it is just such a shame the the idea does not translate as well to film.

For me it seemed disjointed and quite alot of it made no sense.....There is virtually no character development apart from Grimaldi and I wondered why characters like Natalie were even there in the first place....

I actually saw then ending a few months before watching the film and I thought that was really good.  However, through very bad editing we see Demarkov and Grimaldi having their last sexual encounter before the cops bursting in and suddenly the ending is thrust upon you......nothing is explained......you are left to fend for yourself.

The good points about the film are the noir aspects...the voice overs from Grimaldi are integral when the story is not being explained well on the screen. Oldman is fantastic as Grimaldi and although the ending is hearthbreaking im inclined to  say, well it serves you right. His expressions are exceptional and like I have said before, you only need to look into his eyes to know what he is thinking.

Olin is just evil......she will stop at nothing to get what she wants......she should probably have got an oscar nod for this role.


The relationship between Oldman and Olin is just electric and you can tell why Grimaldi fell for her. She only has to look at him and he is like a doe eyed child.

Schieder and Sciorra are stupidly underused but what is there is believable...Grimaldi is the charm offensive and Natalie just can't resist him. Schieder, although almost a caricature, is ruthless and i wouldn't cross him....would love to know how Mona got him into the back of her car so easily though...again, that is never explained.

Juliette Lewis is very cute as the cocktail waitress, Sheri........I truely believed she had fallen head over heels for Jack and her death was quite shocking.....

Romeo is Bleeding...........a film noir which promises so so much, but leaves the audience wondering how it all happened. Saved by superb performances.

Remember.....JUST SAY NO!!!...Jack learned the hard way

7/10