The Blackout

R

1997

1 hr. 40 min.

Drama

List

0%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Actor Matty (Matthew Modine), who is struggling with substance abuse, retreats to Miami. Hoping to straighten himself out, Matty proposes to his girlfriend, Annie (Béatrice Dalle), who reveals that she aborted their child without his knowledge. Shaken, Matty spends a decadent night with his artist friend, Mickey (Dennis Hopper), and returns to New York City with no memory of what happened. He begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous, but he's troubled by what he might have done while blacked out.

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kevin c

Matthew Modine plays an entitled actor who, years after a drug fueled night in Miami, tries to put together the happenings of that evening which reveal a side of himself he may not like. Dennis Hopper is fun in this as a sleazy sex club owner which felt like a nicer version of his character in Blue Velvet. Otherwise, while interesting, this is kind of all over the place. Another dark gritty film from Abel Ferrara.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A must-see sensual cinema diamond by Ferrara, with Matthew Modine in a flawless performance!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Matty, divo del cinema, tormentato dalla dipendenza da Annie, dall'alcool e dalla cocaina, perde la memoria e dimentica di aver commesso un omicidio. Quando scopre che Annie ha abortito perché non vuole partorire il figlio di un drogato, Matty strangola durante un rapporto la cameriera. Disintossicatosi, diciotto mesi dopo viene riportato alla retta via da una casalinga perbene, ma l'incubo di avere ucciso Annie e l'ossessione per lei fanno soccombere il protagonista, il quale di notte si avvia verso la morte nuotando nell'oceano. Poi accade che mentre nuota verso l'oceano appare una scena finale in cui Matty è con una donna nuda la quale gli chiede: <<ti sono mancata?>>. [it.wikipedia.org]

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

jack c

A sorrowful, deeply felt tale of a man lost in himself, trapped inside of a more sleazy tale of decadence. the two go hand in hand, and Modine is terrific, but at the very end it just kind of lost me. A shame, since at certain points it had me completely.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Starring: Matthew Modine, Claudia Schiffer, Beatrice Dalle, Sarah Lassez, Steven Bauer, and Dennis Hopper. Directed by Abel Ferrara. Written by Abel Ferrara, Marla Hanson, and Christ Zois. Rated [b]R[/b] (for strong pervasive drug use, language, sexual content and violence). Running time approximately 1 hour 37 minutes. [center][img]http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/NuBz86/blackout.jpg[/img][/center] [center][i]Modine is lame in a horrible, drug- and sex-filled drama.[/i][/center] This is, most definitely, Abel Ferrara'a very worst film. It is a pointless, gratuitously graphic and absolutely vile drama that fails to connect at all with the viewer. Matthew Modine delivers a dreadful, lazy performance, and, as is to be expected, Dennis Hopper is so over-the-top, we become tired just watching him. Here, he's like a cliche, lame and unbelievable Frank Booth. Ack! I hated this movie. [b]1/2* (out of ****) D-[/b]

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/custom/13/10000913.jpg[/img] Much better film than the critics rate it. Dennis Hopper is very good, as is Modine. Uncomfortable to watch. Ferrara does a good job at getting to the underbelly of our country. Too much real for most folks. But I like it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

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Abel Ferrara

Director

Matthew Modine

Matty

Dennis Hopper

Mickey Wayne

Claudia Schiffer

Susan

Béatrice Dalle

Annie 1

Sarah Lassez

Annie 2

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Emanuel Levy

Variety

Dizzying visual style can't conceal the shallow, self-indulgent nature of Ferrara's sleazy erotic thriller, one of his worst pictures with a terrible performance by a miscast Matthew Modine at its center

Rated: D

Oct 20, 2007

Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Ferrara ... proves incapable of making distinctions between his inspired and indulgent impulses.

Rated: C

Jun 18, 2006

Full Review

Dave Kehr

New York Times

Rated: 2/5

Nov 13, 2001

Full Review

Dragan Antulov

rec.arts.movies.reviews

Rated: 4/10

May 12, 2004

Full Review

Joshua Tanzer

Offoffoff

With vacuous dialogue and little sense of character or direction, it oozes from one amateurishly conceived scene to the next.

Rated: 0/4

Mar 11, 2003

Full Review

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

Goatdog's Movies

The presentation and the acting make you stop caring.

Rated: 2/5

Feb 28, 2002

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Actor Matty (Matthew Modine), who is struggling with substance abuse, retreats to Miami. Hoping to straighten himself out, Matty proposes to his girlfriend, Annie (Béatrice Dalle), who reveals that she aborted their child without his knowledge. Shaken, Matty spends a decadent night with his artist friend, Mickey (Dennis Hopper), and returns to New York City with no memory of what happened. He begins attending Alcoholics Anonymous, but he's troubled by what he might have done while blacked out.

Director: Abel Ferrara
Executive Producer: Alessandro Camon, Mark Damon
Screenwriter: Abel Ferrara
Production Co: Cipa, MDP Worldwide, Les Films Number One
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 15, 2021
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Stereo

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