Plot

A fortune-teller's teasing rumination sends Edmond Burke lurching into New York City's hellish underworld.

A man in a suit at a Manhattan firm leaves work on Friday, looking unhappy. He stops at a fortune-teller's for a Tarot reading: "You are not where you belong," she tells him. That evening he quits his marriage and walks the streets of New York, passing from a classy bar to a gentleman's club, to a high-class bordello, a mugging, a pawnshop, and a diner where someone does listen. He shares his insights with her and later with others. Violence, disappointment, and musings intertwine as Edmond loses his moorings while believing he's found them. Where does he belong?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

"Edmond" is one hell of a thrill ride. It starts off simple enough with Edmond in his corporate business suit learning that a meeting has been pushed back to 1:15, which causes him grief for no known reason. On his way home, he passes a tarot card reader and happens to notice the address for the shop is #115. Seeing it as some sort of sign, Edmond agrees to have his fortune told...and he finds out it's not so good. At home, Edmond seems out of place and tells his wife he's going out. She asks him to bring her back a pack of cigarettes and he informs her that he's not coming back. She's confused and Edmond calmly explains that he doesn't love her anymore and he wants to leave and never return. Edmond leaves and then meets a man in an upscale bar, played by Joe Mantegna, who Edmond learns is a somewhat rational racist, which triggers something in Edmond. The man convinces Edmond that Edmond needs to get laid. Edmond agrees and goes out to a place the racist man recommended and there he gets into haggling about the cost of having sex with a stranger and is distressed that there are so many hidden charges and that he can't pay for it all with his credit card. Edmond leaves and heads out onto the street where he sees a game of three-card-Monte in progress. A guy in the crowd tells Edmond how the trick is done and how it can be beat. Edmond takes the bait and joins in the game, only to have his money tricked away from him. Edmond wants to see the cards they are using and this doesn't sit well with the card sharps. Things happen to Edmond all through this night of hell and nothing seems to make sense. He haggles about the cost of everything and feels like he has no power until he comes across a wicked looking knife in a pawn shop that he purchases. Feeling empowered, Edmond no longer feels like a victim but a victor. Edmond finds a racist streak in him that comes out in a confrontation with a pimp and things get pretty rough from this point on. Edmond's destiny is sealed and he declares at one point that "people kill simply because there are too many people in the world." Something is seriously wrong with this once mild-mannered businessman who wonders why the entire world has gone crazy except for him. They should have never moved that meeting back to 1:15, man!