Last Exit To Brooklyn & It'll Be Better Tomorrow DVD (18)

Dir: Uli Edel, 1989, USA/UK/Germany, 102 mins
Cast: Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Peter Dobson, Burt Young

Last Exit To Brooklyn is set during the Korean War, in the early 1950s. The first characters you see are a trio of soldiers, cockily walking their way back to barracks after a night out. For a few, deceptive seconds this might be a war film, in the conventional sense. Then the real soldiers, fighting the real war, bowl on screen; a gang of roughnecks, spoiling for action. A brief, brutal, beautifully choreographed beating later, you’re in their world, to stay.

Based on the novel by Hubert Selby (who also wrote Requiem For A Dream (2000)), the film is a raw, artful, unsparing look at raggle taggle Brooklyn life. The endless parade of soldiers who straggle through the film getting mugged, propositioned, beaten up, or otherwise damaged in their exchanges on this lawless patch are stand-ins for the audience – sucked into a world that is short on narrative arc and long on impulse, where the only constant is violence. At the centre of this universe of quicksand is Tralala (Leigh), a mouthy hooker with a finely tuned survival instinct, and her occasional partners in crime, Vinnie (Dobson) and Sal (Stephen Baldwin). Their buddy, Harry (Lang), is a shop steward, and head of the strike office, making free with his union expense account as the community struggles through a long strike against the bosses of the local metal works.

Though a stunningly filmed late-night clash between police and strikers provides the visual epicentre of the film, social issues never eclipse the individual. Rather, the big picture stuff (war, labour disputes, family relationships) is backdrop to the intensely felt experiences of the characters. In sharp contrast to films that look back at the ‘50s through a spyglass of modern mores, Last Exit To Brooklyn is perfectly self-absorbed. When shop boss Harry falls hard for a fey, selfish little queen called Regina (Bernard Zette) it would be easy for the film to make a statement about contemporary sexuality, or life in the closet. But it doesn’t, because the point is not what we think of Harry, but how he feels. Instead of glib commentary, there is real pathos. A theme that is repeated in the subplot of transvestite Georgette (Alexis Arquette) and her unrequited love for good-looking thug Vinnie (ringleader of the tormenters in the opening scene). Any kind of vulnerability can be fatal in Last Exit To Brooklyn’s testosterone-fuelled landscape, especially for dainty queens, which makes Georgette’s flirtation watch-through-fingers stuff.

Frankly, it’s a miserable film. Yet so lovingly shot and acted you can’t help being drawn in. These are characters so small, sharp, closed and ugly they wouldn’t ever get an airing elsewhere, but the strong cast (including an excellent young Sam Rockwell) render them painfully alive. Leigh, in particular, pulls off an extraordinarily difficult role with power and panache. They elicit compassion, when they shouldn’t, and they provoke empathy at the unlikeliest moments. And while they’re trapped, you can leave, which gives this film its lingering, bittersweet edge.

Extras:
Disc 1: Feature; director commentary; making of documentary, deleted scenes, photo gallery, trailer

Disc 2: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow
(The forward slash is an intentional inflection based on the typography of Hubert Selby Jr.)
Narrated by Robert Downey Jr., this is a harrowing and engaging exploration of the life and art of Hubert Selby Jr. and features archival footage and new interviews from the legion of artists and friends that shared his passion for literature and love of life, this sharp, penetrating documentary includes contributions from: Lou Reed, Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Darren Aronofsky, Uli Edel, Nicolas Winding Refn, Henry Rollins, Jerry Stahl, Richard Price, Anthony Kiedis and others and rare footage of Selby himself reflecting on his life and work.

Cila Warncke