Audience Member
"Three Businessmen", tal como outros tantos filmes de Alex Cox, pode ser basicamente o que quisermos que seja: peça sobre o sentido da vida, um conto existencial de três reis ou uma gigante piada para a qual ninguém tem uma explicação fácil. O pior mesmo é reparar que este objecto indie as fuck - filmado com dinheiro holandês - encontra sérias dificuldades em manter-nos atentos durante uma hora e dezassete minutos, porque - verdade seja dita - o argumento não tem muita graça e ninguém quer saber das crises dos homens de negócios.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Directed by Alex Cox, who around this time had had trouble making The Winner (1996), which had been recut by the producers, and he missed out on making Richard III (1995) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) due to creative differences. However, he'd been gathering funds to make this quirky comedy, written and produced by Cox's wife Tod Davies. It's very weird, but it's a rewarding experience. We begin in Liverpool, where American art dealer Bennie Reyes (Miguel Sandoval) arrives at a labyrinth of a hotel where he struggles to find his room. However, in the abandoned restaurant of the hotel, he meets fellow art collector Frank King (Cox), who suggests they go out on the town to look for better food. However, this is difficult because Frank is a vegetarian, so they look for food in Liverpool, but they soon find themselves in a districts of Liverpool which looks just like Rotterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong and rural Spain, in search of something to eat, they cross paths on their odyssey with another arts dealer Leroy Jasper (Robert Wisdom) as well. There's something a little bit pretentious about this film, but part of it see's Cox back in his native Merseyside, which he would revisit for his historical/futuristic acid trip Revengers Tragedy (2002). But there's something oddly amusing about the whole film, it's not perfect, but you can make out what Cox's intentions are throughout the film.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Ha! Loved this! Lost In Translation meets Waiting For Godot.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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Audience Member
A surreal search for food that has a plot that sounds as dumb as 'Dude, Where's my Car?', but is actually extremely mature film-making with an unexpected metaphor ending.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Quirky, another Coxy curiosity.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
eric b
It's interesting that "Three Businessmen" is credited as "An Exterminating Angel Production," because the film's debt to Luis Bunuel is obvious -- particularly in light of "The Exterminating Angel" and "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," Bunuel's two masterpieces about mysteriously interrupted activity. "Lost in Translation" fans also will see some familiar turf here.
Directed but not written by Alex Cox ("Repo Man," "Sid and Nancy"), "Three Businessmen" was shot in five different locations including Liverpool, Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Tokyo. But you may not notice the transitions (after all, so many cities have Asian districts).
A motley cast drifts in and out of the frame, but most of the film's scant 80 minutes rest upon just two actors: Cox himself and Miguel Sandoval (who has appeared in most of Cox's projects). They play art dealers who happen to meet in a posh Liverpool hotel. Bennie (Sandoval) is a restless, overly friendly sort who strains to charm people with smarmy nicknames and comic accents. His part is somewhat overwritten, and this is the film's worst flaw. Meanwhile, Frank (Cox, quite solid as a performer) is the straight man who's a bit impatient and irritable. He likes to carefully tear articles out of newspapers. We don't know why.
The two are frustrated with their hotel's lack of restaurant service, so they trek into the surrounding streets to find a meal. Their attempts to eat ("discreet" attempts, perhaps?) are repeatedly thwarted and they soon lose their bearings. They have many conversations along the way, though -- some intriguing, some dull. And wherever they go, they see posters advertising someone named Daddy Z. We don't know why.
Stick around, even if the lack of plot irritates you -- there's a clever, absurdist ending that perfectly wraps up the story. And rest assured, the film's title eventually will make sense.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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