Romeo Is Bleeding ** (1993, Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis, Roy Scheider) – Classic Movie Review 8016

Director Peter Medak’s 1993 British crime thriller Romeo Is Bleeding is another incredibly nasty Nineties tale of indulgence and excess, in which Gary Oldman stars as Detective Jack Grimaldi, a New York cop assigned to watch violent Russian woman gangster Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin) for the Feds.

Though he is married to Natalie Grimaldi (Annabella Sciorra) and having a fling with young Sheri (Juliette Lewis), he predictably falls for Mona (Olin) and puts himself in mortal danger since he is on the pay-roll of vicious gangster Don Falcone (Roy Scheider). Eventually Jack is told to kill Mona.

Romeo Is Bleeding is supposedly a black comedy, though only the black is evident – and it is a dark shade of black at that. Oldman is compelling in a difficult role, but he never strikes quite true as a New York cop, nor does he show enough film star charisma here to provide a centre for this movie. Maybe he is just too good an actor to be a bona fide old-style movie star.

Also in the cast are Will Patton, Michael Wincott, James Murtaugh, Ron Perlman, Tony Sirico, James Cromwell, David Proval, Gene Canfield and Larry Joshua.

Romeo Is Bleeding is directed by Peter Medak, runs 110 minutes, is made by Working Title and PolyGram, is released by Rank, is written by Hilary Henkin, is shot by Dariusz Wolski, is produced by Hilary Henkin and Paul Webster, and is scored by Mark Isham.

Hilary Henkin is an Oscar nominee for Wag the Dog (1997).

Peter Medak is the director of Negatives (1968, with Glenda Jackson), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972, with Alan Bates and Janet Suzman), The Ruling Class (1972, with Peter O’Toole), The Changeling (1980), The Men’s Club (1986), The Krays (1990), Let Him Have It (1991), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), Pontiac Moon, (1994) and Species II (1998).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 8016

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