Last Exit to Brooklyn

Jennifer Jason-Leigh was wonderful in this. Gripping and intense. Life right at the bottom of the barrel. Deep and dark.

brooklyn is dante's hell in mr edel's adaptation of hubert selby's jr. classic.

the novel is re-imagined and visualized with a penchant for religious symbolism and, sometimes, over-bearing wasteland-like ambience. this makes it hard for the film to balance its socio-historical concerns depicting the 1952 brooklyn strikes, and its allegorical moral ambitions.

it handles the obscenity and violence rather carefully, and from a safe distance. mr edel, in a fatal hollywood spirit, cannot resist saving brooklyn, and once the sacrifices have been made, and the cross is swollen with blood, the ray of hope gracefully descends on the sodom and gommorah.

the film is devoured by redemption. it has no mercy upon it.

This was positively the most painful movie I've watched in quite some time!

I feel rather guilty that I had to give it half a star - it doesn't deserve it...

Hubert Selby, Jr’s controversial novel Last Exit to Brooklyn is a classic and is transferred to the big screen brilliantly here by underrated German director Uli Edel. The film stays very faithful to the novel about, possibly, the lowest form of humanity that occupy the decaying streets of Brooklyn in the 1950s; brilliant cinematography giving the film a real sense of high class despite the modest budget. The movie takes place during a bitter factory strike and follows many characters and how their lives intersect. The acting is first rate, with Jennifer Jason Leigh (brilliant as usual) and Stephen Lang (now a cast member of the biggest grossing film in Hollywood history!) taking all the plaudits respectively as Tralala, the hooker with a hart of ice, money is all she knows and cares for; and Harry Black, the repressed homosexual leader of the strike. Indeed, very good all round which surprises me a little that this gem has fallen under the radar. This should’ve received some recognition from the Academy Awards (in an ideal world, eh?) but I guess the violence put some people off. Such a shame.

Oh my God, where have I been that I have only just watched this film? What a cracker.

I would hardly call this a Gay Interest film although it does play a part. This story is about life as it was during a bad period of time when people were striking for more money, and not getting very far.

It's about life, love, aspirations and the upsetting part about it is that it proves that where there's a winner there's always a loser.

It's true that the picture could have been enhanced but that does not detract from the message that is being sent. I gave it top marks and at my earliest opportunity I will own a copy of it. Truly wonderful.