Independent Cinema by D. K. Holm

Independent Cinema by D. K. Holm

Author:D. K. Holm [Holm, D. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Performing Arts, Film & Video, History & Criticism, reference
ISBN: 9781842433867
Google: _9CQCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Oldacastle Books
Published: 2007-11-01T23:26:00.968950+00:00


A measure of a strong script is that everyone wants to do it, and there are so many roles in Cop Land that Mangold was able to raid the top actors of the period, along with future standouts, such as Edie Falco in a minor part.

Cop Land is almost a life’s work. Its roots stretch back to childhood, when Mangold was raised in a ‘white flight’ city in upstate New York and pondered the lives of people who work for and defend one city but live in another. Almost novelistic in its complexity and multi-layering, Cop Land is a condensed, compact tale that follows an ordinary person to an emotional breakthrough. Freddy is this film’s Victor, an overweight, disregarded, underestimated person who reaches a crisis point and resolves to resist his fate. He is another one of Mangold’s dense, isolated characters coming to an understanding about himself and his society. Unlike Heavy, however, Cop Land has villains. Keitel’s hard cop who has forged a haven for his colleagues is a precursor to Vic Mackey on the FX television series The Shield, a man who will do anything to defend his turf, even if it means killing some of those same colleagues.

But as much as Cop Land is Freddy’s story it is also Figgis’s tale. A parallel creation, an undercover cop disparaged by his fellow officers due to complex incidents in the film’s backstory, Figgis too must make a decision that will change his life: stay and help Freddy and betray his friends, or flee with the insurance money he has defrauded? Cop Land opens with Figgis helping an intoxicated, off-duty Freddy walk to his car; the film ends with Figgis helping him walk the distance to the NYPD headquarters.

Ray Liotta’s Figgis is just one of a wealth of great performances in Cop Land, from Stallone down (cult lovers of the film relish Liotta’s ‘cleansing’ speech to Stallone). Particularly effective is Keitel’s Ray Donlan. The look of contempt he gives his rival Moe, played by Robert De Niro, is priceless.



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