rated on a 4-star scale screening venue : odeon ( liverpool city centre ) released in the uk by buena vista international on january 7 , 2000 ; certificate 18 ; 121 minutes ; country of origin usa ; aspect ratio 2 . 35 : 1 directed by martin scorsese ; produced by barbara de fina , scott rudin . written by paul schrader ; based on the novel by joe connelly . photographed by robert richardson ; edited by thelma schoonmaker . go long enough without sleep and you don't just feel tired , you feel like you're in another world . hot and cold take turns to surge through your body as you stagger and yawn . you mumble nonsense , speak with great clarity , then relapse into mumbling again . your eyes open and close like frustrated curtains as you drift between alertness and snoozing . the self-destructive feelings are heightened if you haven't eaten , and are surviving on cigarette smoke , or coffee , or booze . trust me . i have experience in this area . frank pierce , the new york city ambulance driver played by nicolas cage in " bringing out the dead " , lives like this for weeks on end . he sees himself as a " grief mop " , paid to bear witness to hopeless situations , and it's damaging him . he gets through the long days and nights on a diet of whisky , coffee and marlboros , begging his boss to fire him because he hasn't got the energy to quit . the film has been written by paul schrader and directed by martin scorsese , and has been unfairly compared to their 1976 masterpiece " taxi driver " . both pictures feature angst-ridden insomniac protagonists who look out at the urban jungle from uncomfortable driver's seats , and both have dizzying images of garish neon light . but " taxi driver " was about a sensitive vietnam vet whose terrible experiences were turning him into a psychopath ; " bringing out the dead " follows an essentially good man who is aware and afraid of his impending mental collapse . once , of course , frank was good at his job -- acting with skill and speed , relishing the satisfaction of saving peoples' lives . now he wanders around like a zombie , essentially performing a taxi service for corpses and crank callers . he feels tormented by the ghosts of those who he failed to save , and sometimes hears their voices : particularly haunting is an asthmatic 18-year old girl named rose , whose death signalled the beginning of frank's unlucky streak . we follow frank around for three days , and see him work with three other ambulance men : larry ( john goodman ) , a family man who dreams of starting his own private medical service ; marcus ( ving rhames ) , who calls himself a christian but has a mischievous spirit ; and tom ( tom sizemore ) , who can only be described as a nutcase . each of these men is distinctively written and played , and yet , in some odd way , all three shifts seem the same . whoever's in the ambulance with you , it's just another miserable day on the job . most of the characters that are revisited by the screenplay revolve in some way around mary ( patricia arquette ) , a recovering drug addict who frank thinks he could fall in love with . her father is in hospital after a heart attack . a crazy guy from her neighbourhood keeps putting himself in dangerous situations , and winding up in frank's vehicle . and her former drug dealer is given some attention , too . but none of this stuff really signifies much , because " bringing out the dead " is told from frank's point of view , and is about his inability to find meaning in anything . that's not as bleak as it sounds , because the closing shots leave us with the impression that frank will eventually find some peace in his life . but it is exhausting , because to get the point across schrader and scorsese have had to make a two-hour film in which nothing can be seen to develop after the initial set-up . and yet i recommend " bringing out the dead " as a marvellous atmospheric achievement . like frank , from the opening moments we're immersed in neon light and bumpy automobile movements , and in such techniques as jump cuts , dissolves , slow-motion , fast-motion and subjective camera . scorsese's instinct to employ robert richardson was a good one -- the cinematographer's juxtaposition of extreme brightness and darkness create an overpoweringly drowsy mood that brings us into frank's head . not that it's a particularly nice place to be , as cage demonstrates with his amazing performance -- whenever we glimpse him , he's hollow-eyed , desperate , hunched over , hesitant . there is much dark humour in this movie , arising from the absurdity of some of the patients' predicaments , and the twisted games we see medics engage in to pass the time . but it's the harsher images that stick in our minds , because scorsese makes us feel like we're seeing them first-hand . john lennon once sung about " a place where nothing is real . . . where everything flows " . i'm sure frank pierce would love to go there . copyright ( c ) 2000 ian waldron-mantganiplease visit , and encourage others to visit , the uk critic's website , located at <a href= " http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic " >http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic</a> 
