Fete the many faces of Nicolas Cage, as CageFest continues at the Rio Theatre to October 13
Excess meets insanity in his performances in Face/Off, Wild at Heart, and more
Nicolas Cage in Face/Off
Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona
As part of Cagefest 2020, the Rio Theatre screens Raising Arizona, October 9 at 6 pm; Face/Off, October 10 at 10:15 p.m and October 13 at 9 pm; Wild at Heart, October 11 at 9:30 pm; and Vampire’s Kiss, October 12 at 6:30 pm. See COVID safety protocols here
RECOGNIZING THAT EXACTLY what the world needs right now is a Nicolas Cage marathon, the Rio Theatre offers up the many fascinating faces of an actor who brings the weird to an insane amount of cult classics.
Some of our favourites are screening in the next few days—all by legendary directors. The fun starts tonight with the Coen Brothers classic Raising Arizona—a 1987 comedy best classified under “black slapstick screwball”. Some scenes still get big laughs: The Lone Biker Of The Apocalypse and Cage’s diaper robbery gone wrong come to mind. Interestingly, Cage’s dimwitted ex-con H.I. McDunnough may rank as one of his subtler roles.
Wild at Heart finds David Lynch pulling out Cage’s cheesiest performance, as his snakeskin-jacket-wearing jailbird Sailor runs away with precious Lula (Laura Dern). The warped road movie won the Palm d’Or at Cannes (and earned a few boos from the audience there) and revealed Cage as a legendary Elvis impersonator.
Vampire’s Kiss, reportedly one of Cage’s favourites, was a flop when it opened in ‘86. But watch it now and revel in his over-the-top portrayal of one man’s descent into madness; donning fangs and lurching around like Max Schreck’s Nosferatu, he puts in a performance some have dubbed neo-expressionistic. “Am I getting th-r-r-ough to you, Alva?!”
Which brings us to 1997’s Face/Off, which sees two screenings this week--the pinnacle of excess for director John Woo, which is really saying something. Here we have peak Cage, as Castor Troy, the golden-gun-toting villain who probably ranks as his most batshit character--also saying something.
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