Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Barfly
Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Warner Home Video 1987 DVD/VHS Feature Film
R

Ever wonder what it would be like to scuffle around, a kiss away from death on skid row in Los Angeles? Screenplay writer Charles Bukowski and director Barbet Schroeder venture into this scary territory in Barfly. Henry (Mickey Rourke) is an independent soul who loves to drink and write in equal measure. His life takes an emotional swerve when he begins an affair with Wanda (Faye Dunaway in a bewitching performance), a self-destructive boozer who comes across as a fallen angel. The two have hit rock bottom by the time a rich literary patron of the arts (Alice Krige) appears on the scene with plans to reshape Henry’s life. Barfly triumphs as an audacious movie about skid-row existentialism.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat