Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

You won't be disappointed!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Along with After Hours in all possibility the most underrated Martin Scorsese movie. Bringing out the dead is an extremely well-made film by a master filmmaker and ably acted by underrated Nicholas Cage and supported by the likes of Vhing Rames and John Goodman. Taking place in a span of three nights this is a dark comedy which is bound to become a cult classic soon. 9/10 (Go watch for the magic of Martin Scorsese).

Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) is a NY paramedic haunted by the people he can't save. It's a grimy downtrodden portrayal of the underbelly of an ignored society. It's the early 90s from director Martin Scorsese but it is reminiscent of the 70s of Scorsese's past.Nicolas Cage puts up an impressive performance as the haunted man. The series of co-stars does divide the mood of the movie. I rather let him have just one partner. The changes cause disruptions in the flow of the movie.Disruptions may be what Scorsese is looking for. The bluesy meandering feel of the movie is highlighted by the Nicolas Cage narration. We're looking at a maestro conductor in Scorsese. The movie has the feel of a composition.

I can't even begin to imagine the stress and burden paramedics must go through, having to jump on every life or death emergency, having to contend with crazy people getting themselves hurt all the time, and ultimately having to determine who lives and who dies. Bringing Out the Dead pretty much emphasizes all these aspects, underscoring the manic stress and haunting guilt the main character experiences in his efforts to save lives.There are a few caveats, because it will come off as something messy and disappointing to certain viewers. With the premise of a medic contending with ghosts, I initially thought this was a supernatural thriller along similar lines to The Sixth Sense. It totally isn't; it's actually more comparable to Taxi Driver, in the sense that Bringing Out the Dead focuses on one alienated character becoming disillusioned in a scuzzy city setting. In spite of that, it also lacks a straightforward narrative. It's one of those movies where the plot goes all over the place and never really settles on one specific conflict or aspect, and this can be quite off-putting for viewers who are used to seeing one complete storytelling experience (and I usually fall into this crowd; it took me at least two viewings to realize the value of this film).This film is laid out as a series of episodic encounters, following the main character across a few days on the job. He responds to several emergency calls, often times with lives at stake, but always overshadowed by the malice and cruelty of the city. Drug dealers, junkies, prostitutes, the homeless, the desperate, the insane, the sick, all fall under the medics' late night watches. The film carries a dark and brooding tone that always underscores the misery of people in pain.At the same time, however, the film can become manic and crazy. Some of the film's most entertaining moments show the characters high-strung and wired, racing around in the ambulance (and later, they cause some damage). At times, the film gets pretty funny, thanks partly to the main character's sardonic remarks (one of my favorites being "where are the band-aids? This IS an ambulance, isn't it?!"). There's a couple of scenes where the main character challenges his boss to fire him, but the boss just replies "I'll fire you tomorrow, I promise." There's the gruff cop in the hospital who sternly warns people "don't make me take off my sunglasses!" I think one of my favorite scenes involves the medics going to a goth club, where they revive an unconscious dude literally named "I.B. Bangin." Even though the film's drama becomes quite dark and serious, it's moments like these that made it even more interesting to me; it makes the film a fuller, more even experience, and it helped keep my interest more.As mentioned already, the film doesn't really have a straightforward story to tell. It's pretty mixed up, as the medics race around and meet the same characters over and over again. Through everything the protagonist goes through, however, the film does develop a decent story arc regarding the guilt he feels, always haunted by the lives he could not save, and the film overall becomes a personal journey for absolution. Whether or not he finds it hinges on his continuous interactions with a certain patient he helped bring in. In the end, it's a strong character study, reinforced with decent narration and strong thematic undertones.The film looks quite drab, but with remarkable effect. Many shots appear very stylish, with lots of interesting camera angles (including some that go sideways or upside-down), and some remarkably surreal imagery at key spots. Acting is great: Nicholas Cage can get crazy with his role at times, but he also shows remarkable nuance and emotion as the main character, and this might be one of his best performances of his career. Patricia Arquette has interesting nuances of her own, while John Goodman, Tom Sizemore, and Ving Rhames add some much-needed variety and color to the mix. Writing is good. This production uses some good, real-looking sets, props, and costumes. What few special effects there are look effective. Music is used very liberally: there are lots of blues and rock playing in most scenes, and it helps.This is a film that seems to get better the more I see it. It's actually a bit of a shame that I never see it mentioned anywhere, never see it played on TV, never see people talking about it; it's clearly a forgotten and under-appreciated piece of work, and I think it's worth a look.4/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Very Good | Film: Very Good)

This could have been something special, one of the great metaphors in cinema. A vehicle for us to hurl through the night of suffering, where life is transient and we learn to let go of our clinging.The movie is halfway this anyway. We ride the ambulance through the electric night of New York, ferrying back and forth from the outskirts of life broken humans who plead to us with their miseries. There are some inspired visions of this itinerant life, of the homeless sleeping where they may and haggard-looking individuals walking the pavements automaton-like, but they are too glossy for me to really register. Mere studio recreations that fail to give the impression of a life caught unawares.It's a great touch that the depressed paramedic who is our guide through this must learn to be detached from the suffering he remedies, ready to offer his helping hand but not be dismayed when that hand is refused by death. How instead of jumping in the quicksand of suffering to save others, we must learn to draw them to our safe ground.But the film is unawares of what transpires in it, and halfway through becomes a deranged comedy, played to the pounding grooves of Motown. Having missed the opportunity to create a spiritual work that matters, after this initial disappointment, it's to the movie's credit then that it does not become a mere banal lesson in humanity. As our protagonist loses it, the movie revels in the opportunity for insanity.That we get all this by the hand of Scorsese, a filmmaker with a vested interest in cinematography, only makes me think of how this could be done better, longer and more cinematic. For ostensibly bleak material, this is strangely watchable however.