Werner Herzog’s remake of Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant (1993) has the same protagonists: a cocaine-crazed and flipped-out cop – memorably played in the original by Harvey Keitel, in the remake by Nicolas Cage. Herzog, who claims he never saw the original, moved the setting from the streets of New York to New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It is the turf of detective Terence McDonaugh (Cage), who puts his teeth into the murder of five Senegalese illegal immigrants. It looks like a typical case of settling up in the drugs world. His quest for the killer takes him to the seamiest sides of ‘The Big Easy’. McDonaugh, addicted to pain killers, get hopelessly lost during his criminal odyssey. Gambling debts, problems with his girlfriend annex prostitute Frankie (Eva Mendes) and his being suspended don’t make his life any easier.
Film details
Productieland
USA
Jaar
2009
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2010
Lengte
121'
Medium/Formaat
35mm
Taal
English, Spanish
Première status
None
Director
Werner Herzog
Principal cast
Michael Shannon
Editing
Joe Bini
Production company
Nu Image / Millennium Films, Edward R. Pressman Film Corporation (LA), Polsky Films, Saturn Films