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Out of the Past (1947, 97 min, NR, B&W) **** - Directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and Jane Greer. �Do you know a way to win?� �I know a way to lose slower.� Trashy pulp noir par excellence that puts the jaded, weary cynicism of the noir hero front and center, just behind a heavy veil of cigarette smoke. A former private eye (Mitchum) trying to start a new life is drawn back into the schemes of a femme fatale (Greer) and her grinning gangster boyfriend (Douglas). The labyrinthine plot of murders and doublecrosses is almost unfathomable, but it doesn�t matter. What does matter is the sleepy, passionless resignation Mitchum uses to respond to the world; he doesn�t believe for a second that he can escape his fate and acts only so he won�t regret not trying later. Priceless and endlessly quotable �can�t win, don�t try� dialogue.
Owning Mahowny (2003, 104 min, R) ***1/2 � Directed by Richard Kwietniowski, tarring Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Hurt, and Minnie Driver. A Canadian banker (Hoffman) is addicted to gambling�not to winning, but to playing with high stakes. He eventually turns his whole life into a gamble by stealing from his own bank to cover his addiction. PSH, so strong in supporting roles, is given the chance to carry a movie all on his own, and does not disappoint as a man who is almost a machine in his attempts to bring on his own destruction.