Factotum (film)
| Factotum | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Bent Hamer |
| Produced by | Bent Hamer Jim Stark |
| Screenplay by | Bent Hamer Jim Stark |
| Based on |
Factotum (1975) by Charles Bukowski |
| Starring |
Matt Dillon Lili Taylor Marisa Tomei |
| Music by | Kristin Asbjørnsen |
| Cinematography | John Chritsian Rosenlund |
| Edited by | Pal Gengenbach |
| Distributed by |
IFC Films (US) Icon Entertainment International (UK) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
94 minutes |
| Country | Norway, France, United States |
| Language | English |
Factotum is a 2005 film directed by Bent Hamer, adapted from the novel of the same name by Charles Bukowski. It stars Matt Dillon as Bukowski’s alter ego Henry Chinaski.
The film is principally a French-Norwegian co-production, although with an American cast. It was released in Norway in 2005 and distributed in the U.S. by IFC Films in 2006. It was released on DVD in the U.S. on 26 December 2006.
Bukowski's picaresque novel, also titled Factotum, was published in 1975. The book and the film both center on the character of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s alter ego, who appears in much of his fiction. Although events in the book take place in Los Angeles in the 1940s, the film has a contemporary setting, and was shot in Minneapolis.
The script also makes use of Bukowski's poems published in What Matters Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire and The Days Run Aways Like Horses Over the Hill, and some of Bukowski's notebook entries published in The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship. For example, Matt Dillon reads the poem "Roll The Dice" (from What Matters Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire) in a voiceover at the end of the film.
Henry 'Hank' Chinaski (Matt Dillon) is working toward becoming a writer while struggling with alcoholism and holding various menial jobs. The film follows Chinaski as he works at, and gets fired from, various jobs, which include cleaning a massive sculpture, delivering ice, working at a pickle factory, and in a bicycle shop. In the course of sampling the smorgasbord of short-lived occupations, he meets up with assorted eccentric, frequently alcoholic characters.
The first woman Chinaski meets in a bar becomes his most consistent companion throughout the film. Jan (Lili Taylor), like Chinaski, is an alcoholic. He moves in and becomes her lover and drinking partner. They co-exist comfortably in languid squalor until Chinaski becomes upset after an altercation where he beats a wealthy man at the racing track who refuses to give up his seat. Initially polite, Chinaski assaults the man after Jan challenges his behavior. Soon after, Chinaski leaves Jan.
...
Wikipedia