Summary
Basil, a businessman and Chauffeur, Nick, drive into the heart of the rocky mountains in the midst of perilous weather. When the journey becomes potentially fatal, Basil must decide whether he's prepared to sacrifice his life for another.
Basil, a businessman and Chauffeur, Nick, drive into the heart of the rocky mountains in the midst of perilous weather. When the journey becomes potentially fatal, Basil must decide whether he's prepared to sacrifice his life for another.
The writings of Leo Tolstoy have given British director Bernard Rose rich material in the past, particularly The Death of Ivan Ilych, which, ingeniously appended to the life of a venal Hollywood agent, became ivansxtc. in 1999. This adaptation of Tolstoy's story Master and Man is a far more avant-garde affair, starring Rose's regular collaborator Danny Huston as a ruthless California property developer named Basil. On Boxing Day, having heard of property foreclosures in Colorado, Basil abandons his wife and family to hunt greedily for bargains. He's taken on his quest by local taxi driver Nick (Matthew Jacobs), a man whose world is slowly falling apart around him. The wintry journey through ice and snow, intertwined with snatched insights into both men's unhappy home lives and psyches, suggests that little good can come of this, but any such portentous tension soon fades. Huston, as ever, does the devil's work to perfection, but, with no one to like - let alone root for - this soon becomes a very long and tiresome slog indeed.
role | name |
---|---|
Basil | Danny Huston |
Nick | Matthew Jacobs |
Nathalie | Edie Dakota |
Marianne | Lisa Enos |
Rosemary | Jo Farkas |
Cynthia | Julie Marcus |
Carla | Lyne Renee |
Martha | Morgan Walsh |
role | name |
---|---|
Director | Bernard Rose |