ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Milan In the best noir traditions, Mike Figgis directed this homage to the famous sub genre of American cinema in the mid 40's, depicting neon lit and jazzy wired story of two lost souls in grimly looking Newcastle upon Tyne, their fates spun by players of the new world order. Drawing from the same well of ideas and emotions as Truffaut's "Elevator to the gallows" (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud), which also featured Miles Davis jazz score, Figgis is leading us a step further, nicely interweaving the story of misfit lovers drawn together by chance, and clash between ruthless consumerism of "American week" featuring Frank Cosmo's thuggery and unscrupulous forcefulness of it's politics on one side, and on the other, poetic soul in grand persona of Gordon Sumner alias Sting, who is devoted to true art of living jazz in the old town, not budging from what he believes in, with lovers, Kate and Brendan at his side. "The Krakow Jazz Ensemble" a motley crew of actually British musicians serve as a great antitheses to Cosmo's violent kindness, that stops at nothing to achieve its goal. Sting alone in the club, his cigarette smoking from the ashtray, playing a double bass as nothing else in the world exists is one of the many high points of this film, same as a piano tuner who appears throughout, aligning the intervals between the tones of movie's narrative.This beautifully filmed story with subtle touches of blues, B.B King "The thrill is gone" and "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)", from which it drew the title, is one of the best examples of modern noir. Wonderful film, worth revisiting, more contemporary today than when it was filmed, simply an announcement of the new era to come. Highly recommended - a must see.

jellopuke The plot may be standard issue and the characters might be more archetypes than actual people, but this movie is great to look at, with some fine editing, and an abundance of neon-drenched, rain soaked style. It's 80's neo-noir and works tremendously.

Predrag This is one of those films that lets you fill in the blanks and causes you to concentrate on each scene so as not to miss a nuance or clue. I found that the second viewing was more than twice as entertaining! I have now seen it four times; each time very enjoyable. Sean Bean was an unknown to me when I first saw the film, but has now become just about my favorite actorThe Polish element? Melanie's character is half Polish, and, as well, the band slated to play in Sting's club has an accident so the Cracow Jazz Ensemble (or some such), all Poles, steps in instead, among which is Andrej, a sympathetic band manager, the only one who speaks English. Andrej is destined to play a critical role in the film, but rather than provide a spoiler here, see the film to understand what this means. Violence plays a large part in the proceedings, as is obvious from the above description. This is a well-plotted film that put Mike Figgis on the map. Doesn't hurt that he not only wrote and directed it, but also composed the music for it, an effectively moody jazz score.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

tedg Mike Figgis interests me. He's made three films that I consider quite worthwhile: "Timecode," "Innocence," and "Liebstraum."The others aren't bad, just not worth the energy if you consider them as films. But I don't.I consider them visual backdrop for his music. He's sometimes a musician first and a filmmaker second. There are other filmmakers who score their own movies, but this guy:— is actually pretty darn good jazz musician— has a musical imagination which sometimes you can seeThis makes even this ordinary event interesting in a way. Here's the story: Sting plays a jazz club owner threatened by an oafish American played by Tommy Lee. Two creatures caught up in the wake are a janitor working for Sting and a prostitute working for Jones. Not much happens visually. Not much happens storywise or even characterwise.And the thing has been criticized for poor editing. But look more closely and see that the editing has the timing of the jazz riffs that often accompany the scenes and in any case defines the chunking metrics of space we see.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.