Leaving Las Vegas, A visceral emotional experience

With Leaving Las Vegas, director Mike Figgis created an emotionally shocking American classic that remains as shocking now as it was when it first shocked audiences.

At its tortured heart are two unique and unforgettable performances by Nicholas Cage and Elisabeth Shue that deserve a place among the best in contemporary cinema.

Cage gives free rein to his rawness and his wounds in the portrait of Sera, a man who descends irremediably into the abyss of addiction.

It's the most brutal and unflinching character study ever seen: it lays bare his soul completely.

Similarly, Shue imbues the caring but complicit prostitute who witnesses Sera's disintegration with a quiet grace and empathy that penetrates to the bone. Their bittersweet love story is the purest tragedy in cinema.

Refusing to offer catharsis or orderly redemption, Leaving Las Vegas becomes a visceral emotional experience, a heartbreaking wake-up call, and a tragic celebration of human connection against all adversity. It just gets under your skin and stays there.

The impressive hand of its director and the brilliance of its two performers make it a seminal American drama that deserves to be reevaluated endlessly.

As powerful and brutally moving now as it was at the moment of impact.