The Informers   Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Brad Renfro and Amber Heard Entertainment in Video RRP: £19.99 EDV9591 Certificate: 15 Available 09 November 2009

Los Angeles of the 1980’s the young could afford to engage in a decadent lifestyle full of sex, music and drugs. But these pretty young things were oblivious of the circles in which they moved and the sort of people which would gravitate towards them. Their allure drew both the elite as well as low lifers and in the end their lack of insight would cost them dearly...

The Informers (2009 - 1 hr, 33 min, 46 sec) is a multi thread drama, directed by Gregor Jordan, adapted from a Bret Easton Ellis novel by Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder and Mickey Rourke.

If you’ve seen Crash or one of its imitators then you will instantly recognise the film's narrative structure, a sort of six degrees of separation. Therefore, apart from the pretty young things which link all of the main characters and their stories together, the film is essentially a set of intersecting smaller stories.

This is by no means a fun film to watch as each character’s lives are fearful experiences, fear of loss of power, fame or even freedom. The tone of the film is unremittingly dark. This darkness is also driven by their desires for more and more of everything; their lives are simultaneously shallow and immoral. The characters cycle through a daily grind of grim relationships and even grimmer sex, devoid of love the characters continue oblivious of the cost to themselves. The relentless nature of their lives means that watching the film is akin to the fascination of watching a car crash in slow motion.

The film follows a number of characters. There is Jack (Brad Renfro) who wants to be an actor but works as a doorman. He is less than pleased when his uncle Pete (Mickey Rourke) turns up at his house with his drugged sixteen year old girlfriend and a grand plan to kidnap a kid and stash him in Jack’s house. Bryan Metro (Mel Raido) is a rock star whose personal life is in steep decline after his wife Nina (Simone Kessell) has run off with their son. A different and unrelated son Graham (Jon Foster) is having a very bad life, his girlfriend Christie (Amber Heard) will sleep with just about anybody, and he finds it difficult to relate to his parents William (Billy Bob Thornton) and Laura (Kim Basinger), who no longer live together. Lastly we have Tim Price (Lou Taylor Pucci) who is finding it hard to connect with his father Les (Chis Isaak) mostly because his father acts like a horny fourteen year old.

The players play their parts well, but the result is about as far from uplifting as you can get. And that's most of the problem with the film. There is a distinct lack of shade in either the characters or the film as a whole. Even in the closing frames, when some of the chickens had come home to roost, you couldn’t help but feel that these characters pretty much got what they deserved.

The film features option for either a stereo of 5.1 mixes, with English subtitles. Apart for some trailers for other films the disc contains no extras.

If dour films are your heart’s desire then this could be for you, but for a wider audience the lack of any humour or shade might just put you off.

6

Charles Packer