Big Bad Love
Big Bad Love is a 2001 film directed by Arliss Howard, who cowrote the script with his brother, James Howard, based on a collection of short stories of the same name by Larry Brown. The story recounts an episode in the life of an alcoholic Vietnam veteran and struggling writer named Leon Barlow, who is played by Arliss Howard, and his wife, played by Howards wife Debra Winger. The soundtrack includes music by Tom Verlaine, the Kronos Quartet, and R. L. Burnside.
The main character is an unsuccessful alcoholic writer, motivated by desire for his estranged wife played by Debra Winger and the urging of his Vietnam War buddy Monroe played by Paul Le Mat to continue to write. He is angry, yet hopeful that he will sell a story. When tragedy strikes a close friend and his daughter, Leon is forced to rethink his way of life.New York Times reviewer By A. O. Scott wrote, For every moment of breathtaking strangeness as when Leon, after a road accident, awakens in a field of kudzu strewn with manuscript pages there is an overly stylized scene in which literary selfconsciousness suffocates lived reality, the film is a selfindulgent celebration of selfindulgence. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote, Howards Big Bad Love bewilders a whole lot of opulent Southern atmosphere about some stunted, opaque characters. Ken Fox of TV Guide writes The films few saving graces include Dickinsons sardonic southern belle Wingers welcome return to the screen after a fiveyear absence and Howards voiceover readings of Browns powerful prose, which ultimately saves the film from itself., while Rachel Gordon of Filmcritic wrote, For his feature debut as director, Howard impressively mixes fantasy sequences with the depressing reality of pushing creativity as hard as you can against a tide of guilt, and Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, Big Bad Love is brave and admirable for the trust that it puts in a viewers intuition and willingness in going along with it right through to its rewarding finish. ........
Source: Wikipedia
