Written and directed By Mike Figgis. Based upon the novel "Leaving Las Vegas" by John O'Brien.

Nicolas Cage/Ben Sanderson

Elisabeth Shue/Sera

To me, John O'Brien's "Leaving Las Vegas" suffers from a mild case of tunnel vision. In the novel, the story is only seen through Ben's eyes, we never get an idea as to what Sera is feeling as she tries to save someone who is determined to quietly fade away into oblivion. Indeed, I always thought that writer John O' Brien, god rest his soul, almost viewed the Sera character as a throw away of sorts. The great about thing Mike Figgis' film adaptation of John O'Brien's novel is the fact that we finally get to see the Ben character through Sera's eyes. In Figgis' film, Sera finally has a place and a voice of her own. She is an unlikely symbol of hope for Ben at the end of a journey that has no detours and no happy endings. To me, Mike Figgis' "Leaving Las Vegas" is a gritty and unassuming masterpiece that manages to stay true to John O'Brien's novel while somehow managing to inject a rather poignant sense of hope into the mix. That hope is Sera (Elisabeth Shue) who, despite being emotionally damaged, manages to whole heartedly love Ben (Nicolas Cage) despite the fact that he's a terminal alcoholic whose life plan is set in stone. This isn't just a story of convenience, this isn't some meet cute designed for the purpose of manufacturing melodrama in a seedy play land like Las Vegas. This isn't a film where two damaged characters are placed in a given situation for the sake of the plot. These characters, Ben and Sera, they mean much more than that. Sera is the audiences mirror in a way, she is the means by which we see Ben as he slowly circles the bend towards alcoholic oblivion. In essence, Sera is Ben's last stab at love, unconventional circumstances not with standing.

What is amazing about Mike Figgis' film adaptation of John O'Brien's novel is the balancing act that is achieved here. There is an added sense of poignancy mixed in with the darker sub text of Ben's decline and Sera's indifference to her own inability to feel. See, the sequence where Sera is brutalized towards the end of this film and you'll understand what I mean. Point is, the poignancy that writer/director Mike Figgis injects into the story doesn't clash with the darker sub text of John O'Brien's story. I give Mike Figgis all the credit in the world for not giving in, for not letting a major studio "commercialize" the ending of this film. John O'Brien's novel wasn't about happy endings or resolution; it was about the Ben character (Cage) finding some semblance of emotional redemption at the end of a journey void of detours or epiphanies. Figgis' film understands this, embraces this.

Before I get to the plot synopsis, I wanna be fair and take writer/director Mike Figgis to task for the one slight mis calculation he makes in terms of his screenplay. His attempt to widen the audiences scope of Ben Sanderson's life beyond his relationship with Sera and his overall time in Vegas is a mistake. To me, that scene where an obviously intoxicated Ben crosses paths with a few of his former Hollywood colleagues isn't needed. I mean, I know what Mike Figgis was trying to do; he was trying to illustrate to the audience the fact Ben's drinking has reached a crisis stage of sorts, that his drinking effects not only him but the people around him. I admit, I wasn't that enamored with John O'Brien's novel but I never really felt compelled to learn about the where's and why's of Ben's fatalistic destiny. To me, the heart of "Leaving Las Vegas" centers around the journey of Ben and Sera. It's the journey that's important, not the actual where's and why's.

Plot: Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) is a former Hollywood hot shot whose drinking eventually costs him both his family and his career. With seemingly nothing to keep him above ground, Ben decides to head Las Vegas for one final bender. While in Vegas, Ben meets a prostitute named Sera (Elisabeth Shue.) Sera likes Ben, likes his company,but she's to emotionally damaged to actually entertain the possibility of trying to connect with Ben. In the end though, Ben and Sera DO form an unlikely bond of sorts. In essence, Sera becomes a measure of hope and redemption during Ben's painful spiral into oblivion. For Sera, Ben becomes a slight form of emotional salvation. Of course, Ben's path is clear and even as Sera grows close to him, he refuses to alter his plans. This forces Sera to keep her feelings for Ben under the radar, even as she foolishly ponders a way to somehow save Ben from himself. I'll stop there, you can decipher the rest of the plot on your own.

A lot of directors would take the material of "Leaving Las Vegas" and try to over emphasize its melancholy nature. Thankfully for us, writer/director Mike Figgis doesn't do this with John O'Brien's novel. Proof? Take a look at the scene where Ben (Nicolas Cage) tells Sera (Elisabeth Shue) that she can never ask him to stop drinking. I like how Figgis takes his camera and sorts of steps back in order to let Cage and Shue do their work. There's a nice moment here, it's when Figgis' camera lingers on Sera's face as she ponders what Ben has asked of her. Figgis is also on his game during the sequence where Ben and Sera are decompressing after Ben gets them thrown out of a casino because of his drunkeness. This is a very bare bones scene, there isn't even any music behind it. In the end, this sequence is all about Cage and Shue and how well they use the dialogue to let us know what exactly happened in the casino. The give and take between Cage and Shue is a delicate dance of sorts, there's a subtle sense of rhythm between them.

I've heard critics say that writer/director Mike Figgis played up the love story between Ben and Sera a bit to much. Speaking for myself, I completely disagree. The love story works because this film never loses sight of the rather large elephant in the room; that elephant being Ben's mortality. The love story works because writer/director Mike Figgis never loses sight of the story's overall context.

Performances: I would compare Nicolas Cage's performance to Daniel Day Lewis' performance in "There Will Be Blood." This is to say, Cage, like Lewis, achieves a complete metamorphosis in terms of actor and character. What's impressive about Cage's performance is the fact that he doesn't play the "closed off alcoholic" card. Cage instills the Ben Sanderson character with a rather compelling sense of humanity. You sense that Ben, downtrodden as may be, is fully capable of love. It's just... Sera's timing is bad. Indeed, Sera has found Ben just as he's passed his emotional point of no return.

A friend of mine recently saw "Leaving Las Vegas" for the very first time and remarked to me that Elisabeth Shue was playing a role that was just beyond her range; that she was to fresh faced and to scrubbed to play someone as wounded as Sera. Having seen this film twice, I can honestly say that there was never a moment where I saw Elisabeth Shue peeking out from behind her character. Shue is effective in this role because she doesn't play up Sera's wounded nature or the emotional she uses to numb herself when she realizes that Ben is to far gone to actually love her back. If you wanna get an idea as to how good Shue is in this role, look no further than the sequence where Sera finally cracks and asks Ben to see a doctor. Not everyone has to look their part, sometimes it's a matter of an actor or actress having good instincts. The way Shue plays this scene proves that she has great instincts as a performer.

Final Thoughts: This is a VERY melancholy film but it's not melancholy to the point of emotional overkill. That's not to say that Mike Figgis' direction isn't a bit heavy handed sometimes, it definitely is. The ending shot of this film is peppered with slo mo cuts and an extremely under effective jazz score. Still, Mike Figgis' has cut John O'Brien's novel into a film with careful precision and a whole lot of thought. The crux of John O'Brien's novel is still there, Mike Figgis has simply allowed a poignant love story to bloom amidst a rather dark sub text. Plus, as I said before, Mike Figgis has given Sera her say. Though I didn't really care for the bit with Sera's therapist at films end, Sera's own testimony is rather haunting; "I loved him, I really loved him." I think that Ben loved her too, he just happened to be past the point of emotional salvation.