right up my alley. I may be wrong but believe this whole film is simply a parody of the film noirs: an outrageous take on those movies with an over-the-top villain Lena Olin, the most fascinating female I have ever come across on film , along with over-the-top characters, action scenes, dialog and narration. It's a wild, fun - albeit sick - ride, not to be taken seriously which a lot of people did and then thought it was too goofy . Evidence of this film-noir spoof is in the dialog, with a number of fantastic dark-humor lines, many delivered by Olin. One has to see this a number of times to catch all the humor in here. Kudos to screenplay writer Hilary Henkin for her work.Oldman is superb and its the glue that holds this unique story in tact. His narration, including the exaggerated inflection in his voice, is fantastic. I appreciate the American accent this British actor used, too. Olin, as Russian hit- woman Mona Demarkoff, she is one character I guarantee you will not ever forget. Roy Scheider, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis, Michael Wincott and others - cameos by Dennis Farina and Ron Perlman - all deliver great performances with lines that, well,....as I said, are outrageous. If you love the old film noirs, please check this movie out and remember it's tongue-and-cheek.

shouldn't be crossed and never as a result of this experienced the inescapable downward spiral leading straight to oblivion. Lucky them.

violence and the obvious titillation from Lena Olin, this movie is at its heart a pure noir cautionary tale carefully structured to get us to the amazingly powerful payoff, which tops all. The writer Hilary Henkin is obviously knowledgeable about her 40s and 50s hard boiled repertoire and fills ROMEO with references and touches which students of the genre will enjoy.But the center of this movie is Gary Oldman. His blisteringly desperate performance as a corrupt cop at the end of the long slide to oblivion defines the movie and is both hypnotic and disturbing. His voiceovers are a worthy throwback to the old Raymond Chandler raps voiced by Bogart or Dick Powell or Robert Montgomery. This isn't a nice or likable character but Oldman is believably relatable as he inexorably tries to "feed the hole" with his greed and inevitably circles the existential drain.Lena Olin is at her menacing best; this is surely the role which landed her the gig as Sidney's subtly venomous mother in ALIAS, and she takes full advantage of the over-the-top femme fatale characterization with deadly verve. Oldman and Olin share a bizarre chemistry which is fortunate for the script, because Olin's repeated seductions of Oldman where he basically knows she is luring him to his doom would never have worked if the actors didn't bring it to life on the screen. There aren't a lot of actresses who can out-menace Gary Oldman but Lena Olin absolutely pulls it off.ROMEO IS BLEEDING is not perfect. Roy Scheider's mafioso character is strangely caricatured and sticks out in a world otherwise occupied by three dimensional players. Scheider tries hard, too, which is a shame because it's just not there in the role. Lena Olin's brazen escape from police custody defies plausibility in the extreme. Gary Oldman is seemingly not quite properly motivated at all times. Nevertheless, the searing denouement to this movie burns all of these concerns away because it is one of the most unexpectedly poignant and heartrending in the last quarter century of noir. If you have a pulse, you will well up at the end, and probably think about a longing that you left behind at some point in your life against your wishes. 9 / 10

performance . Mona makes a proposition to Jack: Help her fake her death and he will be paid VERY well. The problem is that the mob, led by Roy Scheider, wants Jack to wipe her out, or they will wipe him out. What happens to the characters in this film is what makes this a very intense film. The scenes between Olin and Oldman are hot enough to burn a hole in your television screen. This is a must see film that you have to have in your collection.

away the key, but the Jack in Jack has another agenda.Romeo is Bleeding is every frame a modern noir thriller, made great by Hilary Henkin's script exhibiting detailed reverence for the genre, and some unparalleled performances by the actors. Oldman is breath-taking, cynical and world-weary delivering his Marlowe-style quips, raw and vulnerable reaching crescendo when he puts a gun barrel in his mouth. It would be too much to ask his co-stars to outshine him, but they certainly keep up. Olin produces a nightmarish laugh at the most inappropriate times, and Juliette Lewis's cocktail waitress what else? Sheri's innocence is perfectly ignorant, far too ignorant to survive in this brutal arena. Annabella Sciorra as Natalie completes the trio of Jack's women, his not-so-unaware wife. She is not as cold-hearted towards Jack as Mona, not as infatuated as Sheri, but her flawed love contains a bit of both. She points a gun at him, and we know she knows. Sitting on the porch they have one of those oblique conversations only old married couples know, where every utterance is sub-text, and restraint and feigned ignorance are the name of the game. Jack never quite gets to grips with her, and that is to be his ultimate tragedy.There are hints of Chandler here the letter to Jack from The Boys , and Chinatown, too, most noticeably in the bloodied, deformed demeanor of the protagonist in the final third, but Romeo is Bleeding is a stylish noir piece that acknowledges its antecedents without racking up debts.And then there is the ending, of such heartbreaking, poignant beauty, Oldman and Sciorra pitch-perfect, deftly shot and edited, a wave you ride and crash on shore with. Startling, stunning, and yet how could this tale have ended otherwise? "Sometimes, she stays a little longer. And then she's gone." Not a perfect film, but a perfect ending, and I'll take that every time.

mafia. He provides any and all kinds of information including where federal informants are located. However, when the mafia sends a Russian hit man or woman to take care of an informant, she kills not only the informant but the cops protecting him. Mona, played by Lena Olin Chocolat gets caught by the cops and Jack is hired by the mafia boss Don, played by Roy Scheider Jaws to kill Mona. Mona gets away and hires Jack to double cross Don. Don finds out and threatens Jack's wife and girlfriend as well as Jacks life if he does not kill her. Jack then tries to come up with a plan to get away from everybody and try and save is failing marriage.As I have said Oldman carries the movie with his acting. He has this dry wit that works so well in these anti-hero roles he takes on. In this movie he is a true anti-hero. Whenever he is sitting with his wife, Natalie, played by Annabella Sciorra Chasing Liberty you can see that he loves her. All of the money that he takes gets from the mafia is going to make a better life for the two of them. But he also has a girlfriend, Sheri, played by Juliette Lewis Starsky & Hutch , and he treats her like she is, easy sex. Oh, and she is not the first girlfriend Jack has had, so he has been cheating on his wife for a long time. Through all of this, Oldman gives a convincing performance and never once is he not believable as this very loving but evil guy.Lena Olin is also convincing as this mean spirited, well, bitch. Along the lines of film noir, Mona is the main cause of Jacks downfall, and Lena plays it perfectly. She adds to the tension and is remarkable in that every scene she is in there is a felling of uncomfortableness that Oldman works off of wonderfully. Both Olin and Oldman light up the screen together.I do have a few complaints, not big though. Roy Scheider is miscast as the mob boss. Not to be stereotyping but he doesn't look Italian, he is definitely not give the image of being tough enough, and there is another actor Dennis Farina Striking Distance in the movie that would have been perfect for the part, so its hard not to think how much better he would have been than Scheider. I like the acting he has done in the past, especially Jaws, but not his time.One last actor of note, Michael Wincott The Crow had a small role in this film. I have always enjoyed his work, especially "The Crow" and I don't know why he doesn't get more work. His voice and demeanor make him the classic bad guy and I wish he was out there in more prominent roles.I am amazed that a woman wrote the script for this movie. There are no scenes in the movie that I would say a woman would enjoy. This is a guy movie. How Helen Henkin, who also scripted Road House, knows how to make a guy happy I don't know, but she does. Another complaint is that she did a marvelous job in that every word of dialog is important to the story, but sometimes the scene was a little long. I don't know how, but she should have tightened up some of the scenes. The director Peter Mednek should have noticed this and make the movie flow quicker. He did a great job of bringing us a modern day film noir movie. I just think the pacing could have been quicker.Overall, this is an enjoyable movie, which makes the fact that this was a challenge from Benn all the more fun. This is not a movie for everyone, especially women, so if you feel like watching a decent film noir flick, rent this, just pay attention to every thing and you will enjoy it. Oh yeah, you get to see Lena Olin's breasts too.*This movie and others can be read at www.bbmc.dockratent.com*

manner the story has been told. He brings the protagonist closer to his contacts in order to understand his motives. Although actresses Juliette Lewis and Annabella Sciorra have got limited lines for their secondary roles, they have managed to do their best to change their man. Finally, it is actress Lena Olin who get maximum amount of praise in her role as a femme fatale who is responsible for ruining everybody who oppose her. For his philandering ways, Gary Oldman was a perfect choice as a policeman cum romeo whose irresponsible actions bring about his downfall.