Drunks

Factotum

Rating: 6.8

Fans of poet and novelist Charles Bukowski might enjoy this one. This film version of Bukowski's short novel centers around his alter ago, Henry Chinaski. Chinaski (Matt Dillon) is an alcoholic drifter who floats from job to job, and bar to bar occasionally hooking up with women, and chronicling it all in his writing. Marisa Tomei plays one of these women, a hooker leaching off of her sugar daddy. Lily Taylor plays Jane, the woman who stays with Chinaski the longest. Taylor does an amazing job portraying Jane. She bares all in this role, and Jane comes off as somewhat comical in her pathetic devotion to Chinaski. Alcohol plays the strongest part in this tale. All of the characters are basically severe alcoholics. Bukowski set his novel during WWII, but the movie is set in present day. It's a story of disallusionment, numbness, apathy, a life wasted by alcohol. You may ask yourself "why would I want to watch such a depressing tale?" Well, some people might like that stuff.