- Actors: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Tommy Chong, Linda Fiorentino
- Directors: Martin Scorsese
- Writers: Joseph Minion
- Producers: Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson, Deborah Schindler, Robert F. Colesberry
- Language English
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- VHS Release Date: 22 April 2002
- Run Time: 97 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CI1O
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,163 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Product details |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This well-regarded cult film is a tense Kafka-esque tale concerning what happens to a likeable computer guy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time in the city that never sleeps--New York. This is a New York infested with bizarre characters vividly brought to life by a once-in-a-lifetime cast. Griffin Dunne's wonderfully controlled comic performance as Paul Hackett is the glue that holds this increasingly surreal film together. Scorsese utilises a full array of independent and underground film techniques, including special film speed manipulations, angles and edits, deftly capturing the strange rhythms of an After-Hours New York City. Many will find the jokes clever and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. Some, however, will find the film an excruciating series of staged circumstances setting up a sadistically cruel dark nightmare of horrors. And there are a few lines of dialogue so poorly written they remind you how unbelievable the thin story really is. But forgive the film these few lapses--overall it's a wild, surreal ride. The most offbeat character is the beehive-sporting, Monkee-obsessed neurotic played to perfection by Teri Garr. And the moment when Griffin Dunne uses his last quarter to play Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is" and dances with Verna Bloom while an angry mob searches SoHo for him is an inspired bit of lunacy. --Christopher J. Jarmick
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The essence of black humour,
By Not quite rabid (Finland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: After Hours [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
This is by far my favourite film. If I'd written the script for it, I'd die happy.
I love the symmetry of its structure. It starts as Paul leaves his tedious job at the end of the day and ends as he fetches up at the office again the morning. We are therefore given two glimpses of Paul's ordinary daily life, but in between the film plunges us into a weird dreamlike hinterland. This involves curious funny/sad encounters that make no sense on a rational level but are perfectly in keeping with the dream world - that might be a reflection of Paul's own subconscious desires as much as the reality of night-time New York - the film so stunningly creates. It's also perfectly balanced on the divide between humour and the genuinely disturbing. It is a wildly funny film, with almost every scene based on some completely absurd premise. For instance, Paul unties Kiki, thinking that he is rescuing her, only to find that he's just interrupted a bondage session with her Teutonic lover, Horst ('That was rude, Paul. You really should be ashamed of yourself'). But this humour comes out of disturbed and alienated lives, and we're never allowed to forget that. The scene where Marcy tells Paul about her husband's Wizard of Oz fixation ('He just couldn't stop. He just couldn't stop. He just couldn't stop') is hilarious, but there's something about the manic intensity with which she tells the story that is quite unsettling - and this uncomfortable mix of humour and the genuinely disturbing is pursued mercilessly throughout the film. Ultimately, it's a very Kafkaesque movie (one of the scenes even uses dialogue from a Kafka novel) - it creates a labyrinth in which Paul is thwarted at every turn by people whose motivations are never entirely clear and by situations that remain inscrutable. Some have criticised After Hours on the basis that the sequence of encounters Paul is subjected to are not realistic - too contrived and coincidental. I think this is missing the point - it's a bit like saying that most court cases are not conducted in the way that the case against Josef K in Kafka's 'The Trial' is conducted. The point is that these encounters are not realistic within the context of ordinary life, but they are in keeping with the very defined frame of reference of the film & they are designed (i.e. exaggerated) in order to bring us face to face with the illogicality of the world and the illogicality of our subconscious desires. The hinterland Paul wanders through is as much a dreamscape as reality & the logic of the encounters he's involved in is largely dream-logic.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scorsese's Overlooked Gem,
By DavrosDigital (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: After Hours [1985] (DVD)
Sandwiched between DeNiro's 'King Of Comedy' and the Newman/Cruise 'Color Of Money', this somewhat overlooked and criminally underrated 1985 Martin Scorsese directed offbeat screwball comedy is a pure gem of a little movie, showing a weirder side of New York than we are usually accustomed to seeing.
Travelling downtown for a vaguely arranged date, a quiet computer programmer loses his taxi fare. This proves to be the first of the night's many increasingly bizarre situations, as our hapless hero strives desperately to get home (alive), coming across more and more neurotic and unhinged New Yorkers over the course of the ultimate bad night out on the town. Scorsese directs with the polished style that we expect to see in all his films. The script is tight and witty and the performances are exceptional throughout. This is an inventive and deliciously dark little comedy from the world's greatest director. After Hours: When anything can happen... and usually does. This DVD also contains the following special features: - Commentary by; Director Martin Scorsese, Lead Actor Griffin Dunne, Producer Amy Robinson, Editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and Cinematographer Michael Ballham. - Featurette; Filming For Your Life - Making After Hours - Deleted Scenes - Theatrical Trailer A must see film if you're a fan of Scorsese films and haven't yet seen the full works of this director, who's more famous films include 'Mean Streets', 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull', 'Goodfellas', 'Casino', 'Gangs Of New York', 'The Aviator' and 'The Departed'. A quick look at my watch tells me it's getting late... I'm off out... Downtown!!!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Highly underrated,
By G Griffiths (Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: After Hours [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is one of Martin Scorsese's underrated and underappreciated movies, about Paul, a quiet computer programmer who goes out on a date with a girl he meets in a coffee shop, only for the date to turn into an endless night of lunacy. As he is forced to wander the streets, Paul witnesses the different lives of the residents of New York - a bizarre artist, a neuroic Monkees fan, a couple of thieves, and an irritating ice cream-van owner being a handful of the characters. He is an outsider peering in, much like when he sees a couple making love through a window, and witnesses a murder through another. Paul becomes strangled by the city - everywhere he turns he runs into trouble.The script is piled up with quirky confrontations, conversations, and bizarre events. The script works well, with all the events interconnecting perfectly. It is also very witty, with numerous lines of dialogue resulting in a smirk, or laughter. Martin Scorsese's direction is brilliant - he sets up the suffocating tension, the comedy, and craziness with perfect stride. This is one of his - or perhaps his - most surreal movies; the first thirty minutes leaving the viewer unsure, yet in perfectly good hands. We're watching a man trapped, a man stuck in a city with a pulse - much like Travis Bickle in 'Taxi Driver'. With it's lesser known status, this will prove to be more of a gem than a classic - as it's a pleasently surprising movie, compelling and highly watchable.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
