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Mortal Thoughts

1991 · 104 min

A clammy, uneasy neo-noir that keeps you at arm's length while a woman's story quietly unravels.

Directed by
Alan Rudolph
Genres
Mystery, Thriller
Tagline
Something terrible happened that night. Something everyone wanted to talk about. Something no one was telling the truth about.
Overview
A loathsome man ends up dead, but it's not clear who's to blame. If ever a person got what he deserved, it's James Urbanksi, an abusive drunk who steals from his wife, Joyce, and promises her close friend Cynthia Kellogg that she'll be the next target of his rage. At a group outing, James bleeds to death after someone cuts his throat. But because he's such a terrible human being, police aren't sure which of his acquaintances decided to kill him.

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Directed by
Alan Rudolph
Genres
Mystery, Thriller
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
    Pacing
    measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
    Attention
    engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
    Themes
    • deception
    • guilt
    • betrayal
    • isolation
    • trauma
    Places
    • small town
    • workplace
    Era
    contemporary
    Audience
    adult
    Form
    • nonlinear
    • twist ending
    Content intensity
    • Gore mild
    • Language strong
    • Violence strong
    • Sex mild
    All scales, 0 to 10
    Scales, 0 to 10
    ScaleValue0 to 10
    Action3
    Horror3
    Humour2
    Realism8
    Romance2
    Tension7
    Darkness7
    Complexity7
    Emotional weight7

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    Cast

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    Details

    Genres
    mystery, thriller
    Directed by
    Alan Rudolph
    Written by
    Claude Kerven, William Reilly
    Starring
    Demi Moore, Glenne Headly, Bruce Willis, John Pankow, Harvey Keitel, Billie Neal, Frank Vincent, Karen Shallo
    Music
    Mark Isham
    Cinematography
    Elliot Davis
    Runtime
    104 min
    Country
    United States of America
    Languages
    English

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