Lulu On The Bridge

Customer Reviews:

If depression is your gig, this is your DVD.......2007-06-23

LULU ON THE BRIDGE (1998), is a movie whose goal was of being
different from anything else that's been made, as a story, or movie,
perhaps by people in the business who have seen 1,000's of works
over their lifetimes.

The music most often played throughout, is a lot like Bartok's
String Quartets, meaning that, for anyone having heard those, can
imagine the mood of this work, that is anti-entertainment, bringing
depression and tragedy to the audience.

Harvey Keitel, Willen DaFoe, Mira Sorvino, Gina Gershon are the
stars of this work. Keitel is splendid in his role, in this tale of
a musician who is a victim of a senseless shooting in a tavern,
slipping into unconciousness, and then into a nightmare as his blood
pressure drops from the wound. The initial thoughts of the victim,
is of fearing to lose his ability to capitalize on his fantastic
musical talents following the shooting incident, going to deeper,
more moral aspects.

For a tragedy, Sorvino is a not a bad choice, considering her
natural penchant for a sad, modest, shy, passive, at times childish
introverted image or projected personality. Some may feel this
acting is an acquired taste, like watching paint dry.

For DaFoe, a phenomenally talented actor, the script is the real
tragedy, as he goes into a 7 minute churlish monolog, with Keitel
obediently listening, and responding here and there, to the spiffy
litany of spewed words, from this spiritual guide in the other
world, deciding on the ultimate destiny for Keitel's soul that's in
limbo as he's driven to the hospital in an ambulance.

The story's targeted audience are the urban dwellers of mega-cities,
who can relate to the movie's setting, and modern conveniences (VCR,
TV, hyper-populated streets, restaurants), as well as the
spontaneous, shallow or rushed sexual rapports that tend to develop
between total strangers, under bizarre pretexts, in this case, a gem
or rock that glows in the dark found on a murder victim in the
street.

Keitel's goal, is to adapt more to the fatuous drivel often seen on
sitcoms, to take on that style a bit, vs his admitted hot tempered,
undiplomatic, physical, tough guy confrontational approach that
surfaces in situations of injustice, etc. Admittedly, he tells
DaFoe, he finds difficulty perceiving, sensing and enjoying all the
small pleasures, artistic aspects, amusements that life has to
offer, limiting himself to work and sex, not being fully aware of
his own feelings, as he says.

There's some attempts at scatological humor, such as an airplane
gag, or the opener, with " I couldn't have arrived on stage any
sooner, or my d*ck would be hanging out".

Incidentally, there's a portuguese fado number playing in the
background at a cafe, probably by Mariza, with typical "viola"
guitar accompanying, that is a good choice, considering the
melancholy that's typical of that music style.

If depression is your gig, this is your DVD.

Classic Harvey Keitel as well as a different side - however storyline has its flaws.......2007-01-07

Harvey Keitel is one of those actors who might not have a ten million dollar leading role, but he is an actor that has built up a large following. One reason for Keitel's popularity is because he has often been stereotyped as a either a thug or gruff type of character - and has been able to pull off the role very well. However Keitel has proven he is a very versatile actor and has proven this with a very nice portfolio of work over the past two decades. Keitel proves his versatility in what was an unnoticed film in 1998 called "Lulu on the Bridge". Despite some holes in the storyline, Keitel delivers a very solid performance and one that should keep his fans happy. "Lulu on the Bridge" is a modern day romance story with a touch of fantasy added in. While the movie itself will entertain you, I did feel that this movie could have even been better.

In "Lulu on the Bridge", Keitel plays Isaac "Izzy" Maurer. Maurer is a jazz saxophonist in a little-known club band called Katmandu. While not a criminal, we get a picture throughout the movie that Maurer has led anything but a saintly life. While playing a performance at a New York City club, a madman sniper comes into the club and starts firing his gun. In the chaos, Maurer is struck by sniper's bullet. He suffers a major injury and loses a lung as a result of the shooting. The loss of the lung ends the career that Maurer cherished - his musical career. Maurer tries to adjust to life after music, but finds himself going the loner route. In an effort to keep Maurer from being lonely, Maurer's ex-wife Hannah (played by Gina Gershon) and her boyfriend, filmmaker Phillip Kleinman (played by Mandy Pantakin) befriend him. However, Izzy still seems destined for a lonely life. That all changes when one night while walking home, he stumbles on the body of a murdered man named Stanley Mar. On Mar, Maurer finds a napkin with a telephone number scribbled on it and a box containing a mysterious stone. Maurer soon discovers the stone has magical properties. When he dials the phone number on the napkin, this turns out to be the phone number of a much younger woman named Celia Burns (played by Mira Sorvino). Celiat is a struggling actress who also moonlights as a waitress. Maurer goes to Burns' apartment and has a rocky meeting with her. Maurer then shows Celia the stone and its magical properties. An "aura" of good seems to transform the two of them - and in particular Maurer. This leads to an immediate "connect" between the two and they quickly become lovers. Maurer becomes very happy in his relationship with Maurer and begins to see a side to himself he hadn't seen before. However things change when an anthropologist named Dr. Van Horn (played Willem Dafoe) wants to get possession of the stone. While Celia is out of town shooting a movie, Van Horn hunts down and captures Maurer. While Van Horn wants to get possession of the stone, Maurer does everything to protect Celia who is in possession of the stone.

There a lot of positives with this movie. To start with, the performances by Keitel, Sorvino, and Dafoe are outstanding. In particular, Keitel's performance is the one that stands out. Keitel does a great job at showing his stereotypical gruff character when showing the "old Izzy". However, we also see Keitel do a great job with his softer side. I liked how Keitel showed the kinder and gentler Izzy - and he really showed a genuine love toward Celia as the movie went out. There is one scene where Izzy has a "relapse" to his older side. This happens while Izzy is working as a busboy in the restaurant where Celia works in - it's classic Harvey Keitel. Sorvino is radiant throughout the whole movie. Cast as the villain, Dafoe does a great job. The scenes in which Van Horn "interrogates" Maurer are terrific. The part where Dafoe does his own rendition of "Singing in the Rain" is definitely a scene stealer.

Overall, this was a very good romance story. However, there are some things that could have been done better. I thought the beginning of the movie needed to do a better job at establishing Maurer's "bad side". We really don't pick up on this until we are into the meat of the storyline. I did like the whole idea of the fantasy angle involving the magic stone. However, the "instantaneous love" between Maurer and Celia almost happens too fast for my liking. I really feel the movie could have benefited a lot more from showing how the romance grows and blossoms between Izzy and Maurer. The other weak point is the character of Dr. Van Horn isn't developed very well either. We don't get a lot of information on why Van Horn is obsessed with getting the stone - and how he knows so much about Izzy Maurer.

I also really liked the ending of this movie. This is one of these films where it's going to be very difficult to pick things up in the middle of the story. You need to watch this movie from start to finish. I found the ending to have a great twist - and best of all was that it wasn't predictable. While there were holes in the storyline, I'm still surprised that this movie didn't garner more attention - in particular for Sorvino and Keitel. The Sorvino-Keitel chemistry was very evident in this movie. I would love to see these two paired up in another movie someday. It is worth checking out Keitel's performance in this one - even though it isn't quite his stereoypical role. As for the movie - in an era where Hollywood is flooded with remakes and un-original storylines, this is one original movie worth checking out.

Please..........2003-12-16

Although this movie has going for it Harvey Keitel as well as an interesting mystery stone, overall it is pure arthouse garbage. Yes, I like enigmatic, intricate movies. Yes I can suspend my disbelief. Yes I like it when movies enter a realm where reality as we know it loses ground. But this story is a mish mash. See Donnie Darko or even, as suggested by other reviewers, Jacob's Ladder for better made, well-constructed films that touch on the same subjects.

Only about 10 minutes of this flick retained my attention. The rest was at best a yawn and for the most part, a frustrating eye-roller. Mostly wooden performances (Keitel is his usual bad self, DaFoe is more than adequate) but the story is just cheesy and it has one of the worst endings I have ever seen. I almost threw up.

Lulu is a bridge.......2003-11-19

I've seen this movie twice on cable, Stars or Encore. Maybe HBO. It's a sweet little thing about love unconditional. I like that Lou Reed has a role, Not Lou Reed. Would buy this DVD just to see him on screen (Lou Reed rocks!). The film was good, but best was it introduced me to Pandora's Box, a play and then silent film starring Louise Brooks as Lulu. The play and movie are classics; Brooksie, was a classic beauty. She embodies everything that was the Jazz Age flapper.

Aphrodite, metaphysics, and illusion.......2003-10-27

What is the story about? Jazz saxaphonist, Izzy, is performing with his band and is shot(whether intentionally or accidentally is not clear) by what seems like a crazed man. There is no police follow-up. Obviously this is not important to the theses in the film.
Izzy recovers though he has lost one lung and no longer has the wind power to play the sax, and has lost the use of his right hand fingers, so he cannot key the sax. Am I supposed to think he's a man without an identity? After recovering, Izzy is walking home on a dimly lighted street and comes upon a man with a bullet hole in his forehead, a leather briefcase beside him. Again no mention is ever made of this murder as far as the police are concerned. When Izzy arrives home, he empties the satchel, finds a small box, in it a stone about the size of an egg that glows in the dark. Alongside the dead man there was also a paper napkin with a phone number written on it. Next day he dials the phone number and meets Celia a would be actress waitress.
When the stone glowed, I thought, "Oh, no! Not one of these stories." But I persisted. Izzy did not know Celia or her name, so when she says, "Yes, come on over," I know I'm in a reality different from mine . In the late 20th century a single young girl is going to let an unknown male visit her alone in her aparment. Celia thinks she knows Izzy because he identified himself on the phone and she is listening to a recording of his. Nothing like honesty and trust. Well, Celia holds the glowing stone in the dark of her apartment; and then Izzy does. They are transformed into lovers at first sight. Izzy happens to know the people producing the movie LULU for which Celia is auditioning for a part which she gets because Izzy called his friends. Celia goes to Ireland where the movie is being shot; Izzy will follow in three days__which become a long time.
Stanley Mar, the murdered man, was murdered because he had the stone. Now some toughs find Izzy in his apartment and imprison him in a seemingly abandoned building where he is interrogated in hope of revealing where the stone is. He doesn't reveal it, but the interrogator(daFoe) reveals all the nasty details of Izzy's life. Izzy doesn't reveal anything about the stone because he's protecting Celia who has it in Ireland. Although Izzy hasn't given daFoe a clue, daFoe nevertheless finds Celia in Ireland.
I can't tell you the denouement, but I think it is still in the realm of a reality different from mine. I am not a romantic, so the love story didn't capture me. I'm a materialist(philosophical), so the transformative power of the stone did not capture me. Perhaps the story is about the transformative power of love, but then so is Silas Marner, and no stones, just gold. Where does Aphrodite come in? Well, LULU is a remake of G.W. Pabst's PANDORA'S BOX(1928), which is a very sexy, provocative story, and so Celia is supposed to be in the role of Lulu(Pandora), a femme fatale . And this is why the ending is ambiguous for me__again the reality of the film vs. the reality outside one's mind. This one reqires the "willing suspension of disbelief."
Five stars for the acting, etc.

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