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FACTOTUM
Directed by: Bent Hamer.
Produced by: Jim Stark & Hamer.
Written by: Hamer & Stark, based on the novel by Charles Bukowski.
Director of Photography: John Christian Rosenlund.
Edited by: Pal Gengenbach.
Music by: Kristin Asbjornsen.
Released by: IFC.
Country of Origin: USA. 94 min. Rated: R.
With: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Fisher Stevens, Didier Flamand, Adrienne Shelly, Karen Young & Tom Lyons.

I’m not sure what author Charles Bukowski would have thought of this adaptation of his 1975 book (which also features excerpts from some of his other works) as I’ve never read his works. So it’s hard for someone seeing this film as an introduction to Bukowski to know what his fans will think of it. From this starting point, Factotum is a well-done take on the author’s alter-ego Henry Chinaski (Matt Dillon), who in the first scenes gets fired while leaving the door of his ice truck open, then gets drunk, and writes while hold up in a motel. Throughout, he’ll drink some more and get fired from other jobs, while seeing off-and-on Jen (Lili Taylor), another working-class drinker. There really isn’t much in the way of a story, aside from his short-lived relationship with Maria Tomei’s character Laura, and Henry is about as close to the cliché of the drunken writer as possible, with an outlook that is pragmatic, occasionally poetic, and predictable in his hammered and lackadaisical manner.

However, this is one hell of a dry comic-drama. The scale goes back and forth; one scene features Henry trying to deal with an odd case of the crabs, which is a very funny bit for Dillon and Taylor, then another has a very moving moment of a drunken Henry getting kicked out of a welfare office. There are other instants as well where you almost cringe at the thought of having just laughed at something so absurd treated in such a deadpan manner. This is partly due to the direction of Bent Hamer, who often just leaves his camera on Chinaski and his life of squalor, letting the actors do all the heavy work. But the more pertinent reason to see Factotum is for the performances. The film itself is fairly ordinary for an indie – quirky moments suffused in a dingy atmosphere. But the decision to cast Dillon is the smartest move on Hamer’s part. This is likely one of Dillon’s most absorbing performances, as he digs so into this character’s psyche that not for one moment can one think of another actor who could have pulled it off.

Factotum may prove to be too dry for some, and its bittersweet ending is not hard to see at all from the start, but Dillon underplays his role, sometimes adding some acid, so to speak, with just the way he says some of the dialog. He’s believable to a T. If you’re looking for quality acting by an actor giving it his all without seeming to do too much, this is it. Jack Gattanella
August 18, 2006