The Informers (2008)

Director:

Gregor Jordan

Writers (WGA):

Bret Easton Ellis (screenplay) &
Nicholas Jarecki (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 June 2009 (Israel)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever.

Plot:

A multi-strand narrative set in early 1980's Los Angeles, centered on an array of characters who represent both the top of the heap (a Hollywood dream merchant, a dissolute rock star, an aging newscaster) and the bottom (a voyeuristic doorman, an amoral ex-con). Connecting the intertwining strands are a group of beautiful, blonde young men and women who sleep all day and party all night, doing drugs -- and one another --with abandon, never realizing that they are dancing on the edge of a volcano.

Plot Keywords:

Drug | Party | Sex | 1980s | Doorman

Cast

Jon Foster	...	Graham Sloan
Austin Nichols	...	Martin
Amber Heard	...	Christie
Lou Taylor Pucci	...	Tim
Fernando Consagra	...	Bruce
Aaron Himelstein	...	Raymond
Mel Raido	...	Bryan Metro
Rhys Ifans	...	Roger
Germán Tripel	...	Brian's Guitarist (as Germán Tripel)
Billy Bob Thornton	...	William Sloan
Kim Basinger	...	Laura Sloan
Winona Ryder	...	Cheryl Moore
Brad Renfro	...	Jack
Cameron Goodman	...	Susan Sloan
Mickey Rourke	...	Peter

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, drug use, pervasive language and some disturbing images.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44674) | Finland:K-15 | Ireland:16 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

Senator Entertainment Co

Trivia:

Brad Renfro's final film.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the start of the movie there is a segment of sped-up-traffic, in one view of an intersection a VW New Beetle is clearly visible stopping at the traffic lights. The VW New Beetle was introduced in 1998, long after the events of 1983.

Quotes:

Susan Sloan: [dryly, to a topless Christie] Nice Shirt.

Movie Connections:

References Amadeus (1984)

Soundtrack:

Dance Hall Days

Classic, delicious Bret Easton Ellis

"The Informers" is vacant, isolated and angst-ridden. Much like the '80s, it has lots of placid exteriors, broken interiors, hot bodies, vast wealth and the search for meaning.

As is usual for Ellis characters, though, no one has the equipment to find any meaning. From the beginning, it's obvious the hunt will be fruitless. These people have been so badly socialized by their alienating culture of wealth that they often can't even find an emotional response to their inability to properly feel.

Also par for the course is the easily placed blame. Parents so wrapped up in themselves that their children's existence barely registers are hardly fit to bestow morals or wisdom or emotions or anything else. Privilege has its costs. When anything is attainable, meaning evaporates. Everyone is adrift, and it's everyone's fault.

This is a movie that will likely anger, disgust or bore those not familiar with Ellis' milieu, although many of us who lived through the '80s know what he's on about. It doesn't lead anywhere, just like the characters' internal compasses. A couple of times the dialogue felt like it was trying too hard to get the point across, where if you weren't getting it, you're too stupid to be worth telling. I don't remember the book banging you on the head that way, but maybe it did.

This is not a pleasant movie, so don't make it a date night. It is a lovely, enchanting cultural study of detachment and amorality. But again, it also is everyone's fault. Self-indulgence isn't attractive and doesn't engender pity. When Graham pleads, "I need someone to tell me what is good, OK? And I need someone to tell me what's bad," you can't feel anything for him.

He's lost, they're all lost, there's no hope.