After hours (1985)

If you did not know that this film was directed by Martin Scorsese you probably wouldn't believe it. "After Hours" is surely different from the material Scorsese usually deals with.
After box office flops with "Raging Bull" and even more so "The King of Comedy" (both fantastic by the way) Scorsese had to reinvent himself and start off new with this independent project. Just like its predecessor this one is first of all a comedy or satire but while the "King of Comedy" fit the directors track record nicely this original and bizarre piece of work really stands out thematically.

There are no big named stars to find in this cast but that is not to the films disadvantage. Especially Griffin Dunne has great charisma and is very convincing in his role. He plays the average straight guy Paul Hackett who is about to have a nightmarish time when he meets a woman in a coffee shop after work who gives him a telephone number. Everything starts off quite tame but when he calls her later that evening Marcy, so her name, immediatly invites Paul to her friend's house. It is already late and he has to go there by taxi. Here his ride of horror begins.

On that basis a chain of events is set in motion that will ruin the night for Paul and push him to the edge of madness. Coincidence, misconceptions, bad luck and a handful of really wacky women determine the next several hours in the life of the poor, young man. He runs totally out of control of the situation and finds himself in all the wrong places always at the wrong time.

The movie needs a bit of time to get going but then it really accelerates and starts a crazy hunt through the night that gets very complicated and is constructed in a quite inventive way but does not feel contrived.

It's not hard to identify with the Griffin Dunne character since he not only gives a charismatic performance but his desperation is so tangible and comprehensible.
He is (with one exception) the only normal guy in this freakshow; the only one with a human touch. All the rest are kind of insane, obsessive weirdos with more or less psychological problems.

It's not like Paul doesn't recognize that but the circumstances repeatedly force him in unwanted situations that grow more acute in the course of the night and seem increasingly hopeless. Pretty soon Paul's only desire is to go home but everytime something gets in the way and he runs into even stranger persons. There are for instance the emotionally instable Marcy, her masochistic friend, a lonely barkeeper, dull criminals and an angry mob.

From the very beginning of the film there is a nightmarish touch also in the visual style. The image is filled with a green color tone. It's not the only suggestion of the absence of reality in this trip to hell and back. The film is like a horrible dream that you can't awake from.

You don't neccessarily have to search for meaning as the picture works fine as bold entertainment, even if the amusement is created rather from the increasingly complicated misery than from dialog.
But it maybe can also be read as a comedic, metaphoric portrait of the average middle-class citizen and all his problems, fears, needs and desires that probably trouble his sleep at night.

TRAILER:
Watch the Trailer for 'After Hours' on Youtube