‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ Film Review: Sad, Boozy Reverie Looks for Truth and Beauty in a Dive Bar
The Ross brothers movie is ”The Iceman Cometh“ transplanted to the outskirts of Las Vegas, a fiction/nonfiction blend where verité meets improv and the whole thing is shot through with the skid-row romanticism of a Tom Waits song
If there’s anything a viewer should take into the Ross brothers’ new film, “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,” it’s a healthy disregard for conventional definitions of film genres or styles. A carefully staged and meticulously cast presentation disguised as a cinema verité documentary, it’s confounding if you feel compelled to put a label on it but raucously moving if you take it as a day-long adventure with a group of fascinating characters.
It’s “The Iceman Cometh” transplanted to the outskirts of Las Vegas or “Cheers” on the wrong side of town, a fiction/nonfiction blend where verité meets improv and the whole thing is shot through with the skid-row romanticism of a Tom Waits song or a Charles Bukowski poem. And with the action set in late 2016 with that year’s presidential election playing out on TV in the background, it’s a sad portrait of America at the dawning of the Trump era.
Early in the film, a down-on-his-luck former actor named Michael tells a fellow drinker that when he started his career as an actor, he was going for the truth – but then he decided you could never really get there, so he tried for beauty instead. And if you’re not a stickler for the conventional definitions of truth and beauty, too, it’s safe to say that “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” finds a bit of both of those things.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, went to the Berlin and True/False Film Festivals and had a series of virtual screenings on July 8 to celebrate National Dive Bar Day, with a virtual rollout scheduled for July 10. The three festivals alone were enough to qualify for the Oscars in the Best Documentary Feature category, where the Academy has recently shown itself willing to accept heavily fictionalized films like “Rolling Thunder Revue” and “Kate Plays Christine.”
“Bloody Nose” was inspired more than a decade ago when Bill and Turner Ross would drive through Las Vegas and find themselves fascinated not by the casinos or the Strip, but by the city’s outskirts, which Bill Ross called “the realest part of the fake city.” They decided to find a bar, populate it with characters and let the cameras roll – but it turned out that a bar outside New Orleans, the Roaring 20s, served their purposes and their budget, so they used that and then brought in people they’d met in other bars, mostly in New Orleans, for what is billed as the Roaring 20s’ last night in business.
Still, the film is set in Las Vegas; occasional glimpses of the city’s streets suggest as much, as does Buck Owens singing “Big in Vegas” as the movie begins. As they did in their previous films “45365,” “Tchopitoulas” and “Western,” the Ross brothers dropped real people in constructed situations and used nonfiction techniques to tell a story that was more controlled than it might appear. (Their last film, the vibrant “Contemporary Color,” was based more around a David Byrne stage presentation, so it has a different feeling.)
What matters isn’t the setup, but the people. “I pride myself on not actually becoming an alcoholic until I was already a failure,” says Michael, the aging actor who’s asleep at the bar when the movie begins just before 11 a.m. “I ruined my life sober and then I came to you.”
The casting sheet must have called for grizzled, because Michael is soon joined by an assortment of “locals” whose faces map the mileage they’ve covered. They’re initially presided over by a bearded, kindly bartender named Marc, who picks up a guitar to sing an occasional song, then complains about the changing face of Vegas. “This place is losing its character,” he says. “F—ing Celine Dion can have it.”
Outside the door is just glare. Inside, with Patsy Cline, Michael Jackson and Kool and the Gang on the jukebox, is an odd kind of home. More people filter in, Marc leaves and a single mother named Shay takes his place behind the bar; two cameras weave between the patrons and capture snippets of arguments, flirtations, philosophical discussions and drunken boasts.
It doesn’t feel aimless, exactly, but it definitely meanders in a kind of sad, boozy reverie. Vegas casinos may be designed to make their customers lose track of time, but dive bars do the same thing with less effort.
By the time it gets dark, the bar is crowded and things get sloppier and more morose – and so, in a way, does the movie. One woman whines about how the younger generation never worked hard like her generation did, and a few minutes later pulls up her shirt to display her “60-year-old titties.”
In the background, the television set plays “Jeopardy!” and old movies and election coverage, with Donald Trump’s name every so often slipping into the consciousness of these people on the fringes. It’s a class portrait, perhaps, of a forgotten class that gathers around the karaoke machine to tackle John Prine’s anthem to losers, “In Spite of Ourselves,” and then straight into the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe.”
In the wee hours, they bring out a cake that says “THIS PLACE SUCKED ANYWAY,” and then spill out into the parking lot with sparklers to give the joint an inebriated sendoff. But there are no grand climaxes in “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,” which stands back and lets these lives (or these simulations of lives) go by, catching and preserving moments on the fly.
So the crowd thins out, Percy Sledge sings his ghostly version of “Come Softly to Me” on the jukebox, somebody tries to pick a fight and the movie becomes a sad, grungy fantasia. It ends in regret and anger and confusion, but it’s perversely beautiful.
And maybe truthful, too.
All the Hollywood Films Arriving on Demand Early Because of the Coronavirus
Since most U.S. movie theaters have shuttered in response to the coronavirus pandemic, studios are rushing out VOD home releases of movies that were only just in theaters.
Disney/Warner Bros./Universal
"Trolls World Tour"
The sequel to the 2017 animated hit announced it would be available for digital download on April 10 -- the same day it was supposed to land in theaters. Now it's a VOD exclusive.
Universal Pictures
"Birds of Prey"
The Margot Robbie spinoff of 2017's "Suicide Squad" debuted on demand on March 24. The film grossed $84 million since opening on Feb. 4.
Warner Bros.
"The Hunt"
The Universal/Blumhouse horror film was first delayed from release last fall due to controversy over its violent content -- and then sidelined after its March 13 opening by the coronavirus. It's available to stream now.
Universal Pictures
"The Invisible Man"
The Universal horror film starring Elisabeth Moss grossed nearly $65 million since its Feb. 26 release in theaters. It's available to stream now.
Universal Pictures
"Emma."
Focus Features' adaptation of the Jane Austen novel opened in limited release Feb. 21 -- and picked up $10 million in ticket sales until the pandemic shut down theaters. It's available to stream now.
Focus Features
"Bloodshot"
The Vin Diesel comic-book movie opened March 6 and grossed $10 million before theaters shut down. It's available on VOD now.
Sony Pictures
"I Still Believe"
Lionsgate's biopic starring K.J. Apa as Christian music star Jeremy Camp hit VOD on March 27 -- just two weeks after it opened in theaters.
Lionsgate
"The Way Back"
Warner Bros. released the Ben Affleck drama "The Way Back" -- which grossed $13 million in theaters since its March 6 opening -- on VOD less than three weeks later, on March 24.
Warner Bros.
"Onward"
Disney and Pixar’s animated feature was made available for purchase on Friday, March 20, and the film hit Disney+ on April 3.
Disney/Pixar
"Sonic the Hedgehog"
Paramount Pictures' "Sonic the Hedgehog" set a new record for video game adaptations with a $58 million domestic opening weekend on Feb. 14 and has grossed $306 million worldwide theatrically. It's available on demand now.
Paramount Pictures
"The Call of the Wild"
20th Century Studios' feel-good film starring Harrison Ford and a giant CGI dog is available on demand now.
20th Century
"Downhill"
Barely escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation, a married couple (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell) is thrown into disarray as they are forced to reevaluate their lives and how they feel about each other. It's available on demand now.
Fox Searchlight
"Never Rarely Sometimes Always"
"Never Rarely Sometimes Always" is the story of two teenage cousins from rural Pennsylvania who journey to New York City to seek an abortion. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and walked away with a Special Jury award. It's available for VOD now.
Focus Features
"Endings, Beginnings"
"Endings, Beginnings," a romantic drama from Drake Doremus starring Shailene Woodley, Sebastian Stan and Jamie Dornan, opened early on digital on April 17 and on demand on May 1. It was meant to open theatrically on May 1.
Samuel Goldwyn Films
"To the Stars"
"To the Stars," a period drama set in 1960s Oklahoma that stars Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Jordana Spiro, Shea Whigham, Malin Akerman and Tony Hale, was bumped up to a digital release on April 24 and an on demand release on June 1. Martha Stephens directed the film that premiered at Sundance in 2019 and was meant to be released theatrically by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Samuel Goldwyn Films
"Impractical Jokers: The Movie"
truTV's first-ever feature-length film arrived early on digital on April 1. Follow James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, Joe Gatto, and Sal Vulvano, aka The Tenderloins, playing themselves in a fictional story of a humiliating high school mishap from the early '90s.
truTV
"Artemis Fowl"
Disney's adaptation of the Eoin Colfer fantasy novel "Artemis Fowl" was meant to debut in theaters on May 29 but premiered exclusively on Disney+. The film is directed by Kenneth Branagh and stars Colin Farrell and Judi Dench.
Disney
"The Infiltrators"
The theatrical release of Oscilloscope's docu-thriller "The Infiltrators" has been postponed, and the film was released on both Cable On Demand and Digital Platforms starting June 2.
Oscilloscope
"Working Man"
The March 27 theatrical release of "Working Man" has been canceled due to the theater closures, and the film premiered on May 5 via Video On Demand.
Brainstorm Media
"Jump Shot: The Kenny Sailors Story"
"Jump Shot: The Kenny Sailors Story," a sports documentary executive produced by NBA star Steph Curry, was made available for streaming on the new service Altavod between April 16-18 for $7.99 and is available for pre-order beginning April 9. 10% of all the proceeds will be donated to COVID-19 relief efforts. The documentary tells the story of the player, Kenny Sailors, who pioneered the jump shot, and it features interviews with Curry, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Clark Kellogg, Bobby Knight and more.
Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images
"Scoob!"
Warner Bros. announced on April 11 that it would release the family animated film “Scoob!” for digital ownership and premium video on-demand on May 15, making it the second film (after Universal's "Trolls World Tour") to cancel a planned theatrical release and head straight to home release pandemic.
Warner Bros.
"The King of Staten Island"
"The King of Staten Island," the comedy starring and co-written by "SNL" star Pete Davidson and directed by Judd Apatow, skipped its theatrical release date of June 19 and opened one week early on VOD everywhere on June 12.
Universal Pictures
"The High Note"
"The High Note," the latest film from "Late Night" director Nisha Ganatra that stars Tracee Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson, made its premiere on VOD on May 29. It was meant to open on May 8 theatrically.
Focus Features
"Waiting for the Barbarians"
Ciro Guerra's film starring Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson was originally slated for a theatrical release but was picked up by Samuel Goldwyn Films to instead be released via cable on demand and on digital in August
Samuel Goldwyn Films
"Irresistible"
Jon Stewart's latest film, a political comedy called "Irresistible," will skip theaters and make its premiere online for on demand digital rental on June 26. The film from Focus Features stars Steve Carell and Rose Byrne and was meant to open in theaters on May 29.
Daniel McFadden / Focus Features
"My Spy"
The Dave Bautista action comedy "My Spy" was originally meant for a theatrical release from STXfilms and was due to hit theaters in March. Amazon then acquired the film from STX and will now release it on streaming on June 26.
Amazon Studios
"The One and Only Ivan"
The animated Disney film based on Thea Sharrock's best-selling children's book "The One and Only Ivan" is the latest feature to skip theaters and move to Disney+. The movie features the voice talent of Angelina Jolie, Danny Devito, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren. The film was previously slated for theatrical release on August 14 but will now debut on Disney+ one week later on Aug. 21.
Disney
"The Secret Garden"
The re-imagining of the book "The Secret Garden" was meant to open in UK theaters in April but delayed its theatrical release until August. But STXfilms will now release the StudioCanal and Heyday Films movie on PVOD for $19.99 on August 7 in North America. "The Secret Garden" stars Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Dixie Egerickx.
STXfilms
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”Irresistible“ joins a list of big films heading to digital home entertainment platforms early
Since most U.S. movie theaters have shuttered in response to the coronavirus pandemic, studios are rushing out VOD home releases of movies that were only just in theaters.