Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 319: Fri Nov 22

The Long Kiss Goodnight (Harlin, 1996): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 8.55pm

This 35mm presentation is part of the Art of Action: Celebrating the Real Action Stars of Cinema season at BFI Southbank.

Chicago Reader review:
Geena Davis and her director-husband, Renny Harlin, crawled out from under the rubble of Cutthroat Island, which at the time was reported to be the costliest flop in Hollywood history, to make an even nastier action thriller, about a housewife with amnesia who discovers she’s actually a trained government assassin (and apparently takes her orders directly from La femme Nikita). Frankly, if I had to see either Harlin-Davis movie again, I’d opt for the klutzy unpleasantness of Cutthroat Island over the efficient if equally stupid unpleasantness of this 1996 release, with its protracted torture sequences and its overall celebration of pain and injury (“You’re gonna die screaming, and I’m gonna watch”). Still, if you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Geena Davis say “Suck my dick,” New Line probably deserves your money.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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