Part of the BAMcinématek series New Orleans on Film
Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Directed by Werner Herzog
With Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer
(2009) 122min, 35mm
“Its own special fever-swamp of a movie, an anarchist film noir that seems, at times, almost as unhinged as its protagonist...a pulpy, glorious mess.”—A.O. Scott, The New York Times
In one of his most inscrutably bonkers performances, Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a New Orleans cop teetering on the edge of sanity—and way outside the law. Suffering from chronic pain after an act of heroism during Hurricane Katrina, McDonagh tries to bust a drug ring and get away with as much of their product as possible. J. Hoberman wrote, “Port of Call is as much about the sorry state of New Orleans as it is about that of the protagonist's mental health...the city is a memorable presence—a smashed terrarium, half-empty, partially ruined, at once sun-blasted and submerged in swamp water and sweat.”
