Joe Barber Reviews “FACTOTUM”

by Joe Barber on Aug.25, 2006, under Joe Barber's Movie Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW:”FACTOTUM”

There is a certain noble anger in the work of poet and author Charles Bukowski. The thoughts and tales he shares with readers take them to the edge of civilized society, to a place where people are just barely getting by from day to day. Not because of prejudice or ill health or bad breaks. They’re in that shadowy place largely because they choose to be there, reveling in the pain and despair.

Despite this, Bukowski has developed a following among critics and readers who appreciate the low down life portrayed in his pages. His adventures (or misadventures, depending on your outlook) have produced one film based on his work and life. “Barfly,” starring Mikey Rourke and Faye Dunaway, left me feeling like I needed a bath after I saw it. “Factotum,” based on a Bukowski novel and starring Matt Dillon, didn’t make me rush for the Dial when the last credit rolled, but it did leave me with a familiar question: why does anybody consider this guy a great writer ?

The film, which opens on this week, follow the life and times of Henry “Hank” Chinaski, a want-to-be writer living in Los Angeles. He’s dropped out of college after two years, moved out of his parent’s home and begun working a steady stream of jobs, mostly of the mind numbing, dead end type. He usually stays just long enough to qualify for unemployment benefits. All the while, he drifts from squalid rooming house to dingy motel, fueled by his desire to write and a steady stream of booze, cigarettes and relationships based on sex.

We watch as Chinaski struggles with the “straight” world’ contempt for him and all he stands for. He also struggles with his contempt for the workaday world, the woman he loves but can’t seem to live with and his desire to be taken seriously as a writer. By the time the film ends, he seems no closer to his goal and we are left to decide- if this is a life being wasted or lived in search of art

Something strange happens here. Dillon and his fellow cast members find ways to make Chinaski and his fellow lost souls intriguing from moment to moment while refusing to compromise their painfully self-destructive behavior. When Dillion, as Chinaski, reads Bukowski’s words, his low, rumbling voice brings something to them that engages us. Even as he wastes time drinking and lying around, something is going on below the surface.

Lily Taylor, long a stalwart of the independent film scene, delivers another strong performances as Jan, the woman Chinaski loves. When Dillon and Taylor are on screen together, they create an earthy chemistry that grabs our attention even as their actions repulse us. When director and screenwriter Brent Hamer, adapting Bukowski’s novel, moves away from their relationship that the film loses what direction it possesses and becomes a blow by blow tale of sadness.

Despite its momentary triumphs, “Factotum” fails more often than it succeeds. It has something to say, but lacks the compelling vocabulary needed to translate its message to a mass audience. Only those with the will to walk its lonely, seedy road.

MPAA RATING: R for profanity, nudity, dug and sexual content.

JOE’S RATING:ONE AND ONE HALF STARS.