lannaheim Review of The Big Brass Ring

The Big Brass Ring (1999)

I...was surprised at how good it was! Who knew?

[10/10 · 2 November 2001]

What a sleeper!! No one I know heard of this, and I wasn't aware that it was reviewed in the New Yorker (though it may have been; I haven't been paying attention...). I think it was in the trailers of The End of Sexual Innocence or Pi that I learned of it. How could such an excellent film have been overlooked so grievously? All the actors are brilliant and very well played. The plot is credible and diabolical. The twists and serpentines of it require attention. (Maybe that's why it was a box-office non-starter...) The whole enterprise is intelligent, provocative, emotionally wrenching, and thoroughly enjoyable. It has a completely ambiguous premise which is titillating to those with any imagination -- which (no, I can't say that, it's a spoiler!)...anyway, suffice it to say that you won't fall asleep.