Stephen Frears - The Grifters (1990)

Roy Dillon, a small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend… both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Roy Dillon, hijo bastardo de una prostituta, se encuentra dividido entre el amor que siente por su madre, una mujer de gran atractivo que trabaja para un violento estafador y su amante Lilly, dispuesta a todo con tal de alejar al joven de la influencia materna. Un brillante filme de timadores con un toque de comedia muy original.




The Grifters is an intense character study of a group of people caught up in a world where nobody can be trusted. Stephen Frears presents this cool and brutal adaptation of Jim Thompson's stylish noir novel, which centers on the complex lives of three con artists. Shady Roy Dillon (John Cusack), a low-level Los Angeles con man and petty thief, and Roy's sexy, amoral girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening), a con artist who is down on her luck and willing to do whatever it takes to get back on top of her game; are the focal point of the action. Rounding out the trio is Roy's mother, Lilly (Angelica Huston), a veteran con artist who shares little with Roy other than a bizarre oedipal attraction. The seedy underbelly of LA life is played out in evocative tableaux, as Myra and Lilly compete for Roy's attention.




Aside from the brilliant storytelling, all around strong performances, and a nifty Elmer Bernstein score, it's those extra spinning wheels in your mind which make The Grifters flat out great. So much is on the screen and so much more isn't.

My rip with meGUI from the Optimum Blu-Ray DVD.




Una vez que entras en el juego del sálvese quien pueda, no importan los lazos familiares; el amor es una cosa de despliegue horizontal algo placentero, la amistad un cuento para niños, la solidaridad una enfermedad fácilmente curable: con este material el gran director Frears, creador de obras maestras como Negocios Ocultos, crea un ambiente preciso en el que los timadores no nos dan risa, más bien nos provocan excitación malsana porque al final nos abandonan con la náusea a punto.
Frenético el ritmo, angustiosa la atmósfera, admirables las actuaciones del triángulo maldito: Huston (tan vulnerable, tan implacable), Bening (tan hermosa, tan temible), John Cusack (tan pícaro, tan inocente).

Script/Guión: Donald E. Westlake (novel: Jim Thompson)
Music/Sonido: Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography/Fotografía: Oliver Stapleton
Cast/Reparto: Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, John Cusack, Pat Hingle, Henry Jones, J.T. Walsh, Charles Napier, Stephen Tobolowsky, Gailard Sartain