To Live and Die in L.A. (Friedkin, 1985): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.15pm
A 35mm presentation also screening on December 16th. Details here.
Chicago Reader review:
'A
B-movie script about a U.S. Treasury agent (William L. Petersen) who
will stop at nothing to nail a diabolical counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe),
treated in a kinky, weirdly aestheticized manner by William Friedkin;
it's like an episode of Miami Vice directed
by Helmut Newton. Friedkin seems to take the screenplay only as an
excuse to display a range of postmodernist colors and lighting effects
(beautifully captured by cinematographer Robby Muller),
never really connecting with the characters or the situations. But at
the same time, he's clearly magnetized by the story's sexual subtext
(the battle between the two men becomes some strange, violent ritual of
seduction and possession), and the general affectlessness of the
proceedings is punctuated by rhapsodic images of male power and
destructiveness. Friedkin isn't nearly in enough control of his material
for the film to qualify as an artwork, yet it's one of his few films
with a real emotional current.'
Dave Kehr
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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