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06/21/07
Factotum (2006)
75 %
Reviews Counted: 101 Fresh: 76 Rotten:25 Average Rating: 6.8/10
Consensus:
Matt Dillon's performance is the highlight of this somewhat slow but fascinating portrayal of Charles Bukowski's alter-ego.
Rated: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Theatrical Release: 18-11-2005
Synopsis: The life of celebrated wildman Charles Bukowski has been brought to the big screen on a number of occasions prior to this adaptation of his book, FACTOTUM. Most notably, Mickey Rourke played Bukowski's alter-ego Henry "Hank" Chinaski in 1987's BARFLY, while 2004's BUKOWSKI: BORN INTO THIS... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Didier Flamand, Fisher Stevens, Adrienne Shelly
Director: Bent Hamer
Screenwriter: Bent Hamer, Jim Stark
Producer: Jim Stark
Composer: Kristin Asbjornsen
Screenwriter: Bent Hamer, Jim Stark
Producer: Jim Stark
Composer: Kristin Asbjornsen
Reviews
A character who would be treated as an unlovable or tragic figure almost anywhere else emerges here as a hero of self-expression.
04/01/06
Top Critic
The film may be modest in its ambitions -- but achieves just as much anyway. Just terrific.
02/09/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
12/06/05
An intoxicating comedy based on the writings of cult author Charles Bukowski.
12/06/05
Top Critic
An arthouse movie version of seediness--a bit more muted, engaging and beautiful than real life.
08/26/05
Will not please devotees of narrative closure, but it's a must for anyone who lives by our hero's credo: 'If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't try at all.'
02/01/08
This portrait of an artist as a young sot reels and swaggers towards some kind of redemptive conclusion but, in a truly bold move on the part of the filmmakers, never quite gets there.
07/06/07
Factotum isn't for everybody, certainly not the abstentious. But there's no denying it, Chinaski appeals to our inner anarchist.
02/22/07
Dillon delivers with a cocky denseness that is at once hilarious and poignant...
01/12/07
The transplant didn't take in Barfly, and it works no better here in Factotum. In each case, the baying of the boozehounds just seems repetitious and banal -- the noise endures but the joy is gone.
12/01/06
Bleak-ish, inebriated and quite exhilarating in the full-on Bukowski fashion.
12/01/06
Quite dull, truth be told. As good as Dillon and Taylor are in their roles, making us side with them even as we despise them, there's not a whole lot that happens in a life ruled by the bottle, the butt and the shag.
12/01/06
It's not a great film but it might seem great because it does justice to the life force of an exceptional man who had something to say about not being mediocre.
11/04/06
At its best when it taps into the allure of indolence: The almost scandalous feeling of freedom that comes from sitting on a barstool in midafternoon, without a job, a schedule or responsibilities.
10/06/06
Dillon is play(s) ... still and deep but with a suggestion of a kind of social autism that prevents Hank from succeeding at even the most modest level of human enterprise.
10/06/06
A more apt title for this film might be - Alcoholic writers who can't hold a job and the low-life women who love them.
10/04/06
Related Forums
Charles Bukowski's novel FACTOTUM opens on the big screen on August 18, 2006!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/30/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/30/06
Charles Bukowski's novel FACTOTUM opens on the big screen on August 18, 2006!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/30/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 12/30/06
Charles Bukowski's novel FACTOTUM opens on the big screen on August 18, 2006!!!
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