John Dahl made a trio of entertaining neo-noir thrillers, Kill Me Again (1989), Red Rock West (1993) and, best of all, The Last Seduction (1994). It was the third that made the biggest impact, even though the film premiered on HBO, the response from critics and film festivals was such that it earned a belated theatrical release. Sadly the HBO airing made Linda Fiorentino ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Actress — her femme fatale Bridget Gregory was among the most talked about performances of the 1990s.
After ripping off her abusive husband’s ill-gotten gains, Bridget hides out in a small town and picks up a naive insurance agent in a bar (Peter Berg). She soon decides he has his uses, and tries to manipulate him into helping her with a murderous scheme. Meanwhile, a private detective hired by her husband is on her tail.
This is a rare noir told with the femme fatale as the protagonist. And while Bridget is ruthlessly amoral (she’s no hypocrite), she’s also several degrees smarter than anyone else in the movie, which makes her quite irresistible — or at the very least, very entertaining to watch.
Dahl gives us Linda Fiorentino as the baddest of the bad women, the most full-blown yet utterly believable femme fatale to come along in years.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
A devilishly entertaining crime story with a heroine who must be seen to be believed.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Media Partner
John Dahl
Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman, Bill Nunn
USA
1994
English
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Credits
Producer
Jonathan Shestack
Screenwriter
Steve Barancik
Cinematography
Jeffrey Jur
Editor
Eric Beason
Original Music
Joseph Vitarelli
Production Design
Linda Pearl
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
Three Kings
George Clooney headlines David O Russell's bold, brazen attempt to get to grips with the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, as 4 US soldiers try to liberate a missing shipment of gold amidst the chaos and carnage.
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.
Magnolia
This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.
Election
Tracy Flick (Reece Witherspoon) is running for Student President, but Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) has other ideas... This remarkably sour millennial comedy from Alexander Payne (The Holdovers; Sideways; The Descendents) hits twice as hard today.
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is an assassin, but he's also an existential loner who adheres to his personal code. Despite the thriller trappings, this is really a lampoon of that genre, and a melancholy reverie for the cultural melting pot we call home.
The Straight Story
David Lynch goes a different direction in this linear Midwestern about a septuagenarian (Richard Farnsworth) who drives nearly 400km on a lawnmower to visit his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton).
90s Surprise Film
The 90s movie we have all been missing... Join us for a celebratory wake for this year's 90s, Baby series! What you will be seeing is top secret (no, not Top Secret!, that was 1984) but it will be at least 26 years old and it will be new to this series.
The Wind Will Carry Us
Kiarostami's dry comic masterpiece follows a Tehrani film team's thwarted attempts to document a traditional Kurdish funeral... Trouble being, there's no one to bury, and, worse, virtually no cell service...
Fight Club
1999 was a very good year for movies, but nothing captured millennial angst quite so vividly as David Fincher's bruising black comedy about what it means to be a man today. This modern classic does everything short of rattling your seat to get a reaction.