By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Bent Hamer
Starring: Adrienne Shelley | Didier Flamand | Fisher Stevens | Karen Young | Lili Taylor | Marisa Tomei | Matt Dillon
Country: france, germany, norway, sweden, united_states
Year: 2006
Running time: 94
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377800/
Bruce says: “Mickey Rourke fans and/or BARFLY fans should probably stay away from this film. Both BARFLY and FACTOTUM are based on the autobiographical novel penned by poet Charles Bukowski. FACTORUM traces the drinking marathons and sexual escapades of Henry/Hank Chinaski (Matt Dillon) and his struggles to find and hold a job. Chinaski’s
real passion is writing poetry although he does not find success in getting his work published.
“The film is chock full of booze-filled nights and bar talk. An old geezer sneers to Chinaski, ‘I bet I’ve slept longer than
you’ve lived.’ Other barfolk aren’t so polite. Although Bukowski is probably thirty something in the film, Matt Dillon makes him look ready to jump his 40’s and hit fifty hard. His weary voiceover guides us through Chinaski’s various highs and lows, mostly the latter. Chinaski becomes involved with two women played by Lily Taylor and Marisa Tomei. One loves him dearly and can’t bear to let him go, the other toys with him until they quietly part. As Hank Chinaski drifts from job to job, not unlike Bukowski in his early years, he meets a guy that turns him on to horse racing. Bukowski has a flare for picking the ponies and soon makes more at the track than he does on the job. One particularly funny scene involves Chinaski going home to stay with his parents. He is surprised that he is not well received and is shocked when his father throws him out of the house.
“Dillon plays his role nicely with more than a nod or two to Jack Nicholson, who should have been given a crack at Chinaski when he was the perfect age for the role. Certain gestures and phrasing are lifted right out of Nicholson’s bag of tricks. Bukowski, who is on record for disliking Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of him in BARFLY, would probably have liked Dillon’s low key version of the tortured artist. Taylor and Tomei, two of the more interesting actresses on our planet have not nearly enough to do. Not surprising. In spite of his reputation as a lady’s man, Bukowski’s life was more about the objectification of women
than the relationships he had with them.
“The film I would recommend over FACTOTUM – and definitely over BARFLY – is BUKOWSKI: BORN INTO THIS, a magnificently unapologetic documentary that cuts to the core of the man and the artist inside. FACTOTUM has
a gritty look that matches its subject. 3 cats”