City of Ghosts (2002)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Matt Dillon

Writers (WGA):

Matt Dillon (written by) &
Barry Gifford (written by)

Release Date:

27 March 2003 (Israel)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

where you go when you can't turn back.

Plot:

A con man (Dillon) travels to Cambodia (also on the run from law enforcement in the U.S.) to collect his share in an insurance scam, but discovers more than he bargained for...

Plot Keywords:

Cambodia | Con Man | Fog | Skeleton | Male Bonding

Cast

Matt Dillon	...	Jimmy
James Caan	...	Marvin
Natascha McElhone	...	Sophie
Gérard Depardieu	...	Emile (as Gerard Depardieu)
Kem Sereyvuth	...	Sok (as Sereyvuth Kem)
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Joseph Kaspar
Rose Byrne	...	Sabrina
Shawn Andrews	...	Robbie
Chalee Sankhavesa	...	Sideth
Christopher Curry	...	Larry Luckman
Rob Campbell	...	Simon (as Robert Campbell)
Bernard Merklen	...	Gerard
Jack Shearer	...	FBI Agent Burden
Kirk Fox	...	FBI Agent Philips
Kyoza	...	Rocky

Also Known As:

Beneath the Banyan Trees (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Khmer | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #38928) | Finland:K-15 | Hungary:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | Australia:M | Norway:15 | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

The black Mercedes-Benz, appearing in the movie, was built in 1973 and was formerly owned by the infamous leader of the Khmer Rogue, Pol Pot.

Quotes:

Marvin: You was supposed to stay put until you heard from me.
Jimmy: Yeah well, the Feds were all over me. I had to get away.
Marvin: [Shrugs] Forget it, it's spilled milk. And you did an excellent job, I'm very proud of you Jimmy.
Jimmy: Thanks.
Marvin: Tell you the truth, I think in some ways you're better off here. I mean this place is wide open, fortune to be made. You are gonna want to be a part of it.
Jimmy: Yeah well I'm not so sure, not after the last one. I really sold those people a bad deal.

Soundtrack:

Ghost Head

An interesting film, worth a look

Set in Cambodia a generation after a bloody revolution and civil war, this film follows the adventures of a smalltime crook, Jimmy, who is tracking down an older man responsible for an insurance scam and who has absconded with the money. He arrives in a country full of gangsters and opportunist thieves - not knowing who to trust, he is robbed and beaten up as often as any hero of a film noir movie.

Modern Cambodia is depicted as a hell on Earth - with the exception of a rickshaw driver, Suk, the locals are shown as violent and untrustworthy. Once again a foreign locale is simply a backdrop for white villains to have a shootout. But this doesn't detract too much from a film that is in many ways a homage to "The Third Man", with Phnom Penh standing in for a ruined postwar Vienna, the Harry Lime-equivalent seedy and enigmatic, and the protagonist equally unsympathetic at first. Odd camera angles and flashback shots abound.

The love interest seems tacked on - and a reason for having a female character - but gives Jimmy an incentive to abandon his life of crime and go straight.

An interesting film, worth a look.