So, while I'm in the middle of working on other things,
I thought I'd take the time to tell you about a film called "Bad Lieutenant",
and another film called "Bad Lieutenant".
Bad Lieutenant is a 1992 cult film starring Harvey Keitel,
and, quite honestly, it is one of the best performances I've ever seen from him.
Now, I've only ever seen one other film from the director,
and it wasn't all that great.
But Bad Lieutenant is a film that deserves some recognition.
The film serves as an intelligent character study of a complete sociopath,
and the fact that he is in such a position of power makes the movie
all the more entertaining.
It's not only incredibly engaging, but it's pretty fucking disturbing at points,
pushing to such extremes that wound up giving the film an NC-17 rating.
The film is incredibly uncompromising, and it not only helps it to push boundaries,
but it gives lots of credit to Harvey Keitel's performance.
There are many actors that wouldn't do nude scenes at all,
let alone do a nude scene like this.
[Clip] ♪ Making you happy is my desire, dear ♪ ♪ Keeping you is my goal ♪
♪ I'll forever love you ♪ ♪ For the rest of my days ♪
♪ I'll never part from you ♪ ♪ And your loving ways ♪
[YMS] The character is bat-shit crazy to the extreme,
but somehow he feels like a very real person.
If you put regular people in positions of power and authority
over others, many will wind up abusing those powers.
If you put a complete fucking sociopath in a position of power and authority over others
you get what makes for one hell of an entertaining character study.
Many films would have characters like this one written as the antagonist
to another character's story, but by writing him as the main character
we're able to see him in more depth, which makes him more realistic
and, in turn, more disturbing.
The biggest complaints I could have about the film
would be with some of the camera work.
There were a couple of scenes with a distracting amount of camera shake,
and suddenly I was thinking less about the character, and more about the cameraman.
Like, this right here isn't a first-person shot, and yet you can see every single step
that the cameraman is taking.
There's only a couple of moments like this in the film,
and I can't pretend as though it doesn't bother me,
but for the most part this film is pretty great.
Fast-forward 17 years later, and we get Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
A movie that's kind of the same, but not really.
Instead of Harvey Keitel playing a fascinating but believable character,
we've got Nicolas Cage playing Nicolas Cage.
Or, at least, that's what it appears to be, because at no point in the film
am I actually able to see him as the character he's playing.
[Clip] You're worried about your father finding out?
- No.
- What about your mother? - I don't give a shit about any one of them.
- Did they beat you? - No.
- Molest you? - No.
Didn't buy you any clothes back to school, huh?
Didn't see you in the high school play, huh?
[YMS] Oh, Nicolas Cage, always finding his way into trouble!
I wonder what kind of crazy antics he'll get into this time!
[Clip] Police emergency. This is it.
- You're no cop. - What's that look like?
[YMS] One of the things that I couldn't stand about this movie
was the obnoxiously overbearing, cheesy soundtrack.
Which is not only poorly composed, in my opinion,
but it gets needlessly slapped into so many scenes
that would otherwise be better without music.
[Clip] ♪ (upbeat instrumental music) ♪
♪ (upbeat instrumental music) ♪
[YMS] Not every song in the soundtrack is that bad,
but boy, does that one ever make my ears bleed.
One thing that I did like a lot more about this movie is the camera work.
And I'm not just one of those people that thinks
that smooth is better than shaky in all circumstances.
Even when the camera was a little wobbly, it was never enough to take me out of the movie.
I mean, there were other things in the movie that took me out of the movie,
but the camera was not one of them.
I liked that the shots were able to seamlessly follow him through rooms,
bringing more validity to the realness of the environment.
We've also got Eva Mendes as a completely forced
and unnecessary love interest.
Just one of many ways where this movie inexplicably tries to make him more relatable.
Like, he's not just a bad lieutenant; he's a bad lieutenant who does good things also.
Maybe they should've called it "Good Bad Lieutenant".
Come to think of it, the only real connection these two movies have is the title.
If this is some kind of a sequel, then it's not only a bad one,
but this is kind of a gross misrepresentation of everything the first movie was.
It's like the director didn't even watch the first movie.
[Clip] What did you think about the original film "Bad Lieutenant"
that sort of was a good starting off point for this movie?
It's obviously not a remake, it's not a sequel...
- I've never... - It's its own thing.
I've never seen the other film. And I think it was wise.
[YMS] Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
is directed by famous documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog.
Even though he's well-known for making documentaries
like Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World,
every once in a while he'll direct something fictional.
One of the films he wrote and directed is Rescue Dawn.
As for Bad Lieutenant, he's not credited doing any writing whatsoever.
[Clip] You know there was, at the heart of it... There was a cop who was a junkie.
And I think that... that was what...
what was true about Abel Ferrara's movie,
and it's true about this, and that became just the starting point.
[YMS] It turns out that Werner actually fought to change the title
to simply "Port of Call New Orleans".
Meanwhile, one of the producers who owns the rights to the original
Bad Lieutenant film, insisted that the film be called "Bad Lieutenant".
The two of them wound up compromising by including both of the titles in the same title.
Although, apparently, at some point after its release, the title
got changed again to just "Bad Lieutenant".
Why promote the film honestly when you can just deceive people?
Not only did the title wind up tricking audience members,
but it also fooled the director of the original.
Once he found out that the new Bad Lieutenant film
was in production, he wound up saying,
To which Werner Herzog responded,
So, in all fairness, Herzog is not to blame for this movie being
so dramatically different from the original.
That doesn't mean that I feel as though Eva Mendes' character is any less forced,
but regardless of how good you think the movie is,
it's a little difficult at this point to call it a bastardization of the original.
And I feel kind of bad for Herzog now that his film
can't not be compared to the original. Because, as a director,
he sometimes makes decisions that are a little, uh, artistic?
[Clip] - Shoot him again. - What for?
His soul is still dancing. [laughs]
♪ Loud country music ♪
Shoot him again!
♪ Loud country music ♪
[YMS] At several points in the film we can see iguanas and other lizards appear,
as part of Nicolas Cage's crazy crack hallucinations.
Many people have argued over what symbolism is intended
by their inclusion in the film. The correct answer is that
there is no symbolism, and Herzog just threw it in there because he felt like it.
[Clip] You know, you're asking me too much, because I've never related to symbols.
I... For me, a chair is a chair, and a fish is a fish.
I'm incapable of seeing things in terms of symbols, or in terms of metaphors.
It eludes me.
[YMS] In all honesty, I'm not really off-put by these iguanas appearing in the film at all.
In fact, I would say it adds to the entertainment.
This movie may not be like the original Bad Lieutenant,
but it's entertaining in its own ways. One of those ways being that
this is one of those Nic Cage movies where he's an absolute blast to watch.
[Clip] You should drop dead, you selfish cunt.
[shocked gasp]
You ever think about your kids, or your grandkids? Huh?
Sucking up their inheritance through that fucked oxygen tube?
And Binnie's fucked intensive care?
You fucks, I hate you. I hate you both.
I should... I should fucking both, just right now,
I should fucking kill you fucking both.
[terrified whimpering]
You're the fucking reason this country's going down the drain!
[YMS] I should also mention that this scene started out
with him hiding behind the door for who knows how many hours.
Apparently long enough that he decided to start shaving himself with an electric razor.
Another thing about Nic Cage's performance in this movie is that
he inexplicably changes accents over halfway through the movie.
He starts out like normal crazy Nic Cage, and then, all of the sudden,
it seems as though he's trying to do an impression of Heath Ledger
as the Joker and Richard Nixon at the same time.
[Clip] Let me get something down with the Texas game, yeah?
'Cause that's where the season turns a lot.
- I know that's gonna... - No!
[YMS] And this continues for a good 20 minutes, over several scenes.
[Clip] It's broken.
See? Useless.
I sent for a new one.
As soon as it gets here, I'll weigh the drugs,
and I'll get you your voucher, okay?
You'll know when a supplier is under surveillance.
You'll know when it's safe to make a pick up, when it's not.
[YMS] And then that accent completely disappears,
and it goes back to normal.
[Clip] I'm sure you'll get a contract of some kind eventually.
Shit, you run the 40 and what? What is that, four-three?
[YMS] Was this supposed to be a symptom of his drug abuse?
Did you just throw it in there 'cause you felt like it?
You know, even if I don't call this film a work of genius,
like some people do, I am quite fond of Werner Herzog.
There were quite a few things in this movie that were really out there,
but at the same time, I wasn't really surprised, coming from him.
This being the same guy that ate his own shoe after losing a bet,
and this being the same guy that doesn't get fazed whatsoever
by being shot.
[Clip] Nobody cares about my films. For example, that's --
What was that?
We were standing outside there, and there was a noise,
and there was a whiz, and you just said, "I've been shot".
You've got... Look, you're bleeding!
- I think here somewhere... - Look! You... I mean, that's a...
Somebody shot at you, and created a wound in your abdomen!
It's not... not significant.
[YMS] He's weird and eccentric, but I would also consider him to be intelligent.
And, from what I can gather, it seems as though this movie
was supposed to be some kind of a comedy as well.
Not sure how much of the comedy is intentional,
but at least it wasn't trying to be taken too seriously.
So I guess I'll close this up by saying I would recommend both films,
but for different reasons.
The first one for a fantastic performance and character study,
and the second one for your classic over-the-top Nicolas Cage.
Even if there's at least one scene where someone else steals the spotlight.
[Clip] If you're so much as looking at that girl...
Uh-huh?
You're gonna wish you were born without a dick.
Oh, oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Oh, whoa.
Terry, whoa. Big mistake.
Oh, yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Big... mistake.
[laughs]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...
Whoa, man.
Oh, yeah.
[Subtitles by Jokerine]