Barfly (DVD)

After reading Charles Bukowski's collection of poems You Get So Alone At Times That It Makes Sense, I found myself having more in common with the laureate of lowlife that any other writer I have come across. But considering that Bukowski was also a drunk, a womaniser and lived in poverty, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Barfly is Bukowski's semi-autobiographical film, particularly concerned with the ten years he [apparently] spent drinking and publishing very little of his work. Henry Chinaski (Bukowski's alter ego, played here by Mickey Rourke) is a talented writer, but spends his days scraping money together to buy food and booze. In his drunken states, ...  Read the complete review

This comedy-drama was written by Charles Bukowski, the novelist and poet (who sadly died in 1994), whose semi-autobiographical tales of drunken cynicism drew admirers as diverse as Sartre and Bono. Mickey Rourke plays Henry Chinaski, an alcoholic writer who spends his days in a filthy downtown Los Angeles bar. When he isn't drinking, he is fighting (and getting battered by) one of the bartenders, and exchanging insults with the other derelict individuals who frequent the establishment. When he staggers home he writes poetry and short stories and posts them to publishers without any real expectation of success. He meets a soulmate in Wanda (Faye Dunaway), who ...  Read the complete review