Factotum (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Bent Hamer

Writers:

Charles Bukowski (novel)
Bent Hamer (written by) ...

Release Date:

29 April 2005 (Norway)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

What matters most is how you well you walk through the fire.

Plot:

This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling. |

Plot Keywords:

Gambling | Writing | Drinking | Face Slap | Hotel

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Matt Dillon	...	Hank Chinaski
Lili Taylor	...	Jan
Marisa Tomei	...	Laura
Fisher Stevens	...	Manny
Didier Flamand	...	Pierre
Adrienne Shelly	...	Jerry
Karen Young	...	Grace
Thomas Lyons	...	Tony Endicott (as Tom Lyons)
Dean Brewington	...	Old Black Man
James Cada	...	Bald Man
James Michael Detmar	...	Smithson
Kurt Schweickhardt	...	Ice Plant Supervisor
Dee Noah	...	Hank's Mother
James Noah	...	Hank's Father
Michael Egan	...	Taxi Office Clerk

Also Known As:

Factotum (France)
Factotum: A Man Who Performs Many Jobs (USA) (long title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

France | Germany | Sweden | USA | Norway

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Brazil:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Germany:12 | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R (MPAA rating) | Australia:M | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Finland:K-15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Canterbury Park Racetrack - 1100 Canterbury Road, Shakopee, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Arte

Trivia:

This is the second feature film in which Matt Dillon and Fisher Stevens go to the horse races (the first being "Flamingo Kid").

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The want ad that Henry circles contains an incomplete sentence. The first line reads: "Begin in delivery room and work un-" then the second line begins "Contact Mr. Heathercliff".

Quotes:

Pickle Factory boss: Writer huh? Are you sure?
Henry Chinaski: No, I'm not. I'm halfway through a novel.
Pickle Factory boss: What's it about?
Henry Chinaski: Everything.
Pickle Factory boss: It's about... cancer?
Henry Chinaski: Yes.
Pickle Factory boss: How about my wife?
Henry Chinaski: She's in there too.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Indie Sex: Censored (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Symphony No. 3 in F Major, op 90

Exley v. Bukowski

Anytime that a picture promises to depict a myriad of social decay: sex, alcoholism, misogyny, masochism, vagrancy—I am at once attracted. In Factotum, director Bent Hamer sprinkles the screen with such squalor, yet done with such adroitness and comedic care, that the film achieves what any film of this genre should ever set out to do: turn the downtrodden, the brackish, the man caged in penury, into a hero.

Like Frederick Exley's character in A Fan's Notes, Bukowski's Henry Chianski, ice delivery man, cum pickle sorter, cum statue sweeper, cum writer, is dependent on alcohol, which oxymoronically, is necessary for his survival. As the title of the film connotes, Chinaski, played deftly by Matt Dillon, can't hold down a job longer than it takes to take a slug of whiskey, which undoubtedly is his first love, followed closely by long-legged women with taut genitalia—his words, not mine.

Chinaski finds his reflection in Jan, played by Lili Taylor, who complements his transient, lush lifestyle. One of the most telling scenes is one where Chinaski is seen retching over a toilet one morning after excessive drinking, which is subsequently followed a moment later by Jan copying Chinaski's keck.

Ultimately, Factotum is not a parable that preaches: it's clearly not that, if anything it glamorizes a sordid lifestyle. What it does achieve is to show that greatness comes in many forms and that once the outer core of despair is broken down, then only is truth found. That truth: Chinaski had a clear voice and, as any quasi-philosopher tries to do, he had his own vision of virtue and the reasoning we use to get there.

Whether or not Bukowski's Chinaski or Exley's Exley was the bigger hero is debatable. And while both drank big, they too wrote big and were apathetic toward public condemnation. While their actions may not have been virtuous, their disregard for virtue was.