Losing Ground (2005) User Reviews

Great film, disturbing subject.

[linktoruth · 9/10 · 19 June 2005]

This is one of the best best films I have seen in 2005 but unfortunately most viewers will never see it. It is not "big", or flashy. It does not have any "stars" but it is skillfully put together. All of the components, acting, directing, cinematography and editing make this a movie well worth the effort it will take to find it. It is based on a play, it happens in real time, in a Video Poker bar and is a very sad commentary on gambling and the toll it takes on those unable to control it. It is entertaining and disturbing. I live in Las Vegas and the character portrayals are real. These people exist. They are your neighbors and friends. With legalized gambling growing everywhere in the US lawmakers should be required to see this film to see the toll gambling can take even when carefully monitored.

Gambling Movie Knows When To Hold 'Em.

[odienatr · 7/10 · 4 May 2005]

In translating his play to film, Bryan Wizemann avoids the staginess that mars most cinematic adaptations of staged work. He is well supported by his actors, each of whom fully inhabits their characters' sense of desperation and addiction. A gambling bar in Vegas provides the claustrophobic setting for a group of addicts' Pavlovian responses to the potential big score their video poker machines may hold. The drama unfolds in real time without a specific narrative line, but Wizemann's screenplay peppers the journey with subtle road signs that clue us into the characters' back story, flaws and motivation. From the hardened, seasoned vet (Monique Vukovic) to the desperate fading beauty way in over her head (Eileen O'Connell), Losing Ground pulls no punches in depicting how the sadomasochistic cycle of addiction entraps all who fall into its downward spiral. Wizemann's subtle character piece ultimately hinges on the blatant actions of a clichéd mystery man (the cowboy symbolism is way too obvious), but the last line of his film smacks with a bitter irony that redeems the work. 7.5 out of 10.

Tense portrait of a fragile world

[colm-subs1111 · 9/10 · 14 July 2005]

Caught this one at CineVegas amongst about 30 other new independents and this one just blew me away. Rarely are we treated to such savage realism delivered through a compelling story about a group of gamblers cornered in a Las Vegas bar. From the beginning a dark and almost suffocating staging racks up the tension only to be relieved by the casual conversation of Michelle as she jokes with the barman. One by one, the gamblers come in and unload into their closeted video poker personas. And then enters a cowboy... As the plot developed I became riveted to the screen as I watched Michelle deteriorate from a beautiful 'Sands' girl to a creature of inner haunting wretchedness that was almost visible on her face, as if somehow etched. I couldn't believe that such a transformation was possible on film. Around me sighs of recognition could be heard - but this was Vegas, so I guess a lot of people saw themselves up there. Nonetheless there is a universal theme here that gets under your fingernails and stays with you long after the credits have rolled. Got to hand it to the actors here - each and everyone of them delivered an Oscar worthy performance. Though there were strains of Mamet and definitely O'Neill, the writer has his own thing to say here and his own way of saying it - a rarity in this copy cat world where true style and originality hide like diamonds in the dark.