Movie

Barfly

1987 · 100 min

A grimy, funny, and sad drift through dive bars and cheap rooms, watching two people cling to each other and the bottle.

Tagline: Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Overview: Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

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Rent or buy in the UK

Amazon Video

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: darkstrength 3 of 3
melancholicstrength 2 of 3
cynicalstrength 2 of 3
satiricalstrength 2 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: addiction
isolation
love
class
identity
Places: big city
workplace
home
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: nonlinear
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language strong
Violence strong
Sex strong

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	3
Horror	1
Humour	6
Realism	8
Romance	4
Tension	4
Darkness	7
Complexity	5
Emotional weight	6

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy

Amazon Video

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres: comedy, drama, romance
Directed by: Barbet Schroeder
Written by: Charles Bukowski
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Alice Krige, Jack Nance, J.C. Quinn, Frank Stallone Jr., Sandy Martin, Roberta Bassin
Music: Jack Baran
Cinematography: Robby Müller
Runtime: 100 min
Country: United States of America
Languages: English

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Barfly

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