Rimini

This movie follows the has-been crooner Richie Bravo. Still a formidable specimen of a human being, he has sunk low. He sings at near-empty venues, has abandoned his child and the mother of the child in the past, has no money and hustles on the lowest level. Richie is selling himself out as an aging dream-boat to lonely women seeking sexual encounters. He pimps out his own apartment and he drinks constantly. He lies and cheats. The film follows him around in amazing shots of stunning beauty. The contents is sometimes bordering on the unbearable; it can get very explicit. A drunken night, depicted in all it length, is a descent into lowest misery (but no violence). The camera-work is incredible. Strange enough, as the film staggers on, Richie Bravo, the unlikely hero, starts to grow on the audience. He becomes lovable. There is dignity in being a worst-case scenario train-wreck. A study in human humility. The film is definitely an experience; a very strange one.