Its a DArk NiGhT... WoMeN & Men BotH PLAy heRE!!. Review on After Hours - Hollywood Movie

Now you would wonder what brings me to this film which is titled "After Hours"??Is it another one of the "Blue" kinda film I had written earlier OR like the title suggests.. Where Men and Women play the streets of downtown Manhattan, New York.. right down to the streets of SoHo.. Where steams rises out of pavements, streets are deserted, cans clutter on the streets with a fair bit of the siren blowing constantly... Bizzare!!! But this Martin Scorcese comedy of the dark type is a completely mind blowing film that will raise your heart beats to a crescendo, palpitate you for the gloriously seductive women, completely kinky in habits and even incoherently in your face attitude Or even the brush with the odd GAY who might just want to brush you up the wrong way and even worse..you might risk staring death directly in his face and stammer, "Is it really my time already???...** Whacky, and amazingly bizzare Martin gets a laugh out of you and thrills you beyond comprehension!!!

I am not going to give you details of Martin Scorcese, I would advise you to read Ratnakars (indian1969) review on him and then possibly come back!! But, if you ask me, stay here and read further as I try to transport you right into his world (Martin's) and then possibly you might not want to go there at all ;)).. (no offense Ratna, just got into the Martin type of dark mood here)

Lets meet Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne), a typical American Manhattan working word specialist, who very adroitly hates his job because he hates it and he has no social life left because of it!! He generally whiles his time and finds himself at a coffee shop where he is uniquely played on by the tempting, vivacious woman Marcy (Rosanna Arquette). Being male and lonely he actually falls for the play and goes along till 11.30pm when the bartender tells him, "Different rule apply when its this late...".. that could raise goose pimples on you at that time of the night in New York where you are single, hassled and 'looking'!!

She then leads him to the lean, mean streets of SoHo, where apparently the sane sleep the night while the neurotics play the streets. These streets are never empty for a night of mean acts, brutal honesty, jokes turned sour and silence being the best language spoken!! Bizzare right... Read on...

The ride leads our man Paul to the apartment of a top notch sculptress friend of Marcy, Kiki (Linda Florentino), who has the most bizzaresque statues in her appartment that imply the kinky sexual nature of her mind and her strange way of talking about being burned bring out the wierd nature of the people in SoHo. In Marcy's bedroom, she gushes of being sure that they will have a great time together, and thats where Pauls' world shatters!! It literally rips apart... After the **seduction gone wrong, not once but twice, he finds himself out of cash to reach home!!

Aimles wanderings on these mean streets takes him through completely whacky and bizzare situations that you might feel your heart reach out to him.. Just imagine that at one point a lybch mob goes after him in the dead of the night thinking and claiming that he is a thief!! A MOB, that too LYNCH (baying for his blood)... **How much more bizzare does it get??

Its surprisingly shocking in parts where there is even a suicide thrown in, lonely subways with escalating prices?? Its a world where our man reaches a peak of string of bad luck and what more awaits his fate?? **Its not really a laugh a riot kind of film but you laugh more out of the situation that Paul is made to go through and you are made to think... How did he manage to do that at all???

This is a very small budget film, 97 minutes only and mind you, all in one night!! Makes you wonder whether such things do ever happen OR is it just the flight of fancy of this remarkable Director who can make you believe that this is not a mere coincidence on the streets of New York... 'AFTER HOURS'!!

Now you may go and read Ratnakars review on Martin Scorcese!! Hey hold on... "Different set of rules apply here AFTER you have read this review...."Oh by the way have you at least commented on it?? I want to know whether you are going to watch this amazingly bizzare Dark Comedy at all?? I recommend ...... WATCH IT!!

Beware... it could happen to you.. if you do decide to walk the walk on the streets of New York.......... AFTER HOURS :))Most of the scenes that are out on these streets are shot with at least one Staedicam and two static cameras as Scorcese gets out the angles for his shots to get the effect of being bizzare, whacky et al!! Cinematography is TOP NOTCH!!

I have not paid any tribute to this film crew and cast as I think Martin has done such a ruthlessly thorough job that you will end up liking the film and the characters will turn out to be as ONE **huge part of the whole darkness that shrouds this plot!! They are all fantastic!!!