ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996            TAG: 9602130136
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B10  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT

BOOZY `LEAVING LAS VEGAS' IS BLEAK AND BELIEVABLE

In a time when almost every mainstream film has an obligatory "happy" ending, Mike Figgis' grim "Leaving Las Vegas" is ironically refreshing.

It's a character study of Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage), a washed-up, alcoholic Hollywood scriptwriter who decides to commit suicide by drinking himself to death in Las Vegas. Sera (Elisabeth Shue) is the prostitute who befriends him and eventually comes to love him.

Though a couple of subplots complicate the story, it's essentially a journey to the bottom of despair. There are no false hopes, easy answers or grand transformations. For comparative purposes, think of "Midnight Cowboy," though the film Figgis chooses to quote directly is "The Third Man," that beautifully bleak tale of nonredemption set in post-war Vienna.

Figgis makes his Las Vegas just as grimy and dissolute. One cheap motel that Ben calls home for a time is so rank you can almost smell it. The rest of the city fares little better. The glittering neon fleshpot has never been presented so harshly on screen. It's the natural place for Ben to go for his final bender.

Cage brings his familiar intensity to the role, making Ben's sweaty, booze-drenched self-destruction seem completely believable. He would appear to have a mortal lock on an Oscar nomination. This is the kind of showy, extravagant performance that the Motion Picture Academy loves to recognize, but it seldom wins the big prize. (Remember that back in 1969 Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo lost out to John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn.)

Elisabeth Shue is even better with a more complex character. She's always been an underrated actress, and this role ought to put an end to her good-girl typecasting.

Writer-director Figgis's script is based on John O'Brien's novel, which appears to be at least in part autobiographical. O'Brien committed suicide before the film was made. Music has been an important ingredient in Figgis' work, particularly "Stormy Monday," and it still is. At first, the score is effective, but the minimalist pop/jazz wears out its welcome, most notably in Sting's numbers. By the end of the film, his thin screech sounds like nails on a blackboard.

Perhaps it's meant as an audio reflection of Ben's state of mind, but it's still the most difficult aspect of a film that's not easy to take in any respect.

Got a question about movies? Contact Mike Mayo at P.O. Box 2491; Roanoke, VA. 24010, or by e-mail at 75331.2603compuserve.com. Leaving Las Vegas ***

A United Artists release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View 6. 110 min. Rated R for subject matter, rape, violence, sexual material, brief nudity.

LENGTH: Medium:   58 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:   Both Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue have received 
          praise for their work in ``Leaving Las Vegas.''  color