Continuing my deep dive into the back catalogue of Abel Ferrara, The Blackout (1997) is a film of two halves, which combine to form a portrait of addiction. The opening sets up a hedonistic LA lifestyle with movie star Matty (Matthew Modine) returning home from a film shoot, ready to reunite with his girlfriend Annie (Beatrice Dalle). Their chaotic relationship, however, is dealt a serious blow from his excessive drinking and drug use, and in their argumentative fall-out, she leaves him. His obsessive freefall into random hook ups and all-night partying is documented by his friend, video artist and filmmaker Mickey Wayne (Dennis Hopper) who is the ring master of strange sexed up events that also function as installation and film sets, covered from every side by video recording and video tape. Things erupt into a worrying fever dream, and then we find Matty living in New York a year later clean and sober with his new girlfriend (Claudia Schiffer). Yet his obsession over his past lover creeps into his dreams and his ongoing therapy – there’s also the nagging question of what happened one night during a total drunken blackout, and whether a murder was committed. Like Ferrara’s other films around this time like New Rose Hotel, there’s a debauched R-rated low-budget fervour that is balanced by a sustained look at self-destruction and the nightmare of addiction, wrestling with guilt and those wronged. Modine goes for it in a sweaty strung out performance. Of course, the greatest acting fireworks go to Hopper in classic Dennis Hopper mode as the dark conscious and bearer of truth, who extols the future of video to his company (“Vidiots! Video is the future, man!”). There are parallels to David Lynch’s Lost Highway in plot and theme, and as much as people respect Ferrara for his in-your-face intensity, there’s an artfulness to the editing and several sequences that catch at a dreamy, noir-addled logic (Jim Mol was the editor). Joe Delia and Schoolly D also contribute songs to the soundtrack. A sleazy psycho-drama that won’t be for everyone – but if you are on the wavelength to watch Modine freak out while Hopper sticks a camcorder in his face, this is the film. Available to stream on Amazon Prime. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 