this movie really has nothing to do with bukowski. there is the terrible acne, the yearning for love, and the alcoholism. other than that, when writer has made everything his own, and the people releasing this film should have billed it as "inspired by charles bukowski" not based of the poems of.
it is told in 3 sections, and while the fist two sections are beautifully acted by the two boys/men playing "henry voss" (must not have gotten the rights to play henry chinaski), the 3rd and worst section is played by an actor trying to recreate Mickey Rourke in "Barlfy," only the make-up artists made him up to look even greasier. throw in masturbation with a 12 year old boy, a direct "elephant man" allusion, and an ending that makes one want to throw up, and you have a combination of ingredients that would make bukowski punch someone in the jaw. only i didn't even get that: i felt deflated and cheated. as a fan of bukowski's work, at arm's length, this is purely garbage.
but i did get a kick out of thinking that it is possibly johnny depp playing guitar in the prom scene (which in bukowski's poem, he only looks through the window and observes, why the director decided to fictionalize this, i don't understand).
rent this if you're a huge bukowski fan ready to be let down hard. it's in the same category of fante's "ask the dust" adaptation, about a struggling Italian writer in his teens, played by collin farrel.
it is told in 3 sections, and while the fist two sections are beautifully acted by the two boys/men playing "henry voss" (must not have gotten the rights to play henry chinaski), the 3rd and worst section is played by an actor trying to recreate Mickey Rourke in "Barlfy," only the make-up artists made him up to look even greasier. throw in masturbation with a 12 year old boy, a direct "elephant man" allusion, and an ending that makes one want to throw up, and you have a combination of ingredients that would make bukowski punch someone in the jaw. only i didn't even get that: i felt deflated and cheated. as a fan of bukowski's work, at arm's length, this is purely garbage.
but i did get a kick out of thinking that it is possibly johnny depp playing guitar in the prom scene (which in bukowski's poem, he only looks through the window and observes, why the director decided to fictionalize this, i don't understand).
rent this if you're a huge bukowski fan ready to be let down hard. it's in the same category of fante's "ask the dust" adaptation, about a struggling Italian writer in his teens, played by collin farrel.