Dangerous game (Ferrara)

‘Dangerous Game’ is a film about film. Eddie Israel (Keitel) is a director on a shoot in L.A.. His film depicts the extreme emotions and escalating violence of a married couple at a destructive crossroad and departure point in their relationship. Reality blurs when the actors Sarah Jenning (played by Madonna) and Francis Burns (James Russo) increasingly begin to live the lives of their characters, as the demands of their roles intensify, corrupting their own sensibilities. A fissure in Israel’s middleclass suburban N.Y. life is opened and the rot sets in when he allows the film to become the vehicle for his own frustrations. As much about film as being one, ‘Dangerous Game’ borrows inspiration from Cassavettes and turns the film around to reflect itself. Although the film focuses on Israel’s desire to see the actors plumb the depths of the emotion in their roles, ‘Dangerous Game’ becomes more of a comment on what is lost during the process. This is supported by a sequence in the film from Blank’s documentary ‘Burden of Dreams’, featuring an interview with Werner Herzog on shoot for ‘Fitzcarraldo’.