Rick, well received at the SXSW festival this year, is a faithful modernization of Giuseppe Verdi's 1851 tragic opera "Rigoletto," which was also a reworking of Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'amuse." I did not realize this until the Q & A period following the film, and it made all the difference.
Without the tie to the opera, the film will be judged too much on the curse of believability, and that is a shame.
The trio of Pullman, Aaron Stanford as Duke a.k.a. Bigboss, and especially Agnes Bruckner pull off strong performances.
The dark moods and sound of the film are terrific, and the use of anonymous Internet sex chat to set up the relationship between Rick's boss and his daughter Eve (Agnes Bruckner) works well.
Rick does have some difficulties. The crucial misfire is an absurd plot contrivance used to set up a mistaken identity.
Director Curtiss Clayton has had difficulty distributing this film that has everything going against it in today's market - Pullman's unlikable main character Rick O'Lette, lack of a happy ending, and if Clayton mentions Rigoletto as the basis of the film, he is met with blank stares. Hopefully, he'll run into one opera-savvy distributor and get Rick beyond the film festivals, at least into the art houses.
8.5/10
Without the tie to the opera, the film will be judged too much on the curse of believability, and that is a shame.
The trio of Pullman, Aaron Stanford as Duke a.k.a. Bigboss, and especially Agnes Bruckner pull off strong performances.
The dark moods and sound of the film are terrific, and the use of anonymous Internet sex chat to set up the relationship between Rick's boss and his daughter Eve (Agnes Bruckner) works well.
Rick does have some difficulties. The crucial misfire is an absurd plot contrivance used to set up a mistaken identity.
Director Curtiss Clayton has had difficulty distributing this film that has everything going against it in today's market - Pullman's unlikable main character Rick O'Lette, lack of a happy ending, and if Clayton mentions Rigoletto as the basis of the film, he is met with blank stares. Hopefully, he'll run into one opera-savvy distributor and get Rick beyond the film festivals, at least into the art houses.
8.5/10