SEA OF LOVE

US, 1989, 113 minutes, Colour.
Al Pacino, John Goodman, Ellen Barkin, Michael Rooker, William Hickey.
Directed by Harold Becker.

Sea of Love is a murder mystery and a thriller focussing yet again on the burnt out New York cop. This time it is a moody At Pacino. And he gets entangled with one of his suspects, Ellen Barkin. Did she? What will happen to him? It is a dark film of moods, suspicions, desperate passion - relieved by some comic touches from John Goodman as a fellow investigator. The plot is complex, the acting carries it through. A gloomy anti thriller from Harold Becker, director of a number of Joseph Wambaugh films like The Onion Field, The Black Marble as well as Taps, The Boost. (For television release, the character of Pacino's wife, played by Lorraine Bracco, was reintroduced after being cut for cinema release.)

1. Interesting police thriller? New York murder mystery? Portrait of relationships?

2. The world of New York City, the precincts, the streets, apartments, shops, clubs, resturants, atmospher? THe musical score?

3. The title, the use of the song, at the murder scene, Tom Wait's version at the end? The song in the past? Erotic indications?

4. The murder mystery, the setting, the investigation, clues, suspicions, the solution? Seeing everything through Frank's eyes?

5. The murders, the portrait of the victims, sexual relationships, the suspect as a woman, the playing of Sea of Love, reaction of the neighbours, sex and lies?

6. Al Pacino's portrait of Frank: twenty years on the force, the meeting and his welcoming the guests, various types, the speech, the revalation of what was happening, the arrest, saving the father and his boy? His clashes with Gruber? His phone call to Denise in the middle of the night? His drinking? The possibilities for his life? Investigating the victims? His style, working with Gruber? The arguements? The meeting with Gina and her grief?

7. Frank as a policeman, his energy, investigating the victims, talking with witnesses, the man from the cable television company, his humane treatment of the doorman and getting information? Evidence? Meeting Sherman, working with him, the party and his singing, making a team?

8. The idea for entrapping the murderer? The discussions with the police chief and his going along with it? The visit to Ray Brown, his wife and family, sincerity, his lies, his death? The poetry, Frank' alcholic father in the background of his work as a policeman? His poem - from courting his mother? The replies from the advertisements in the personalls column? Getting wired, the restaurant, meeting the women: the older woman, the one who didn't like Frank, Gina and her meeting him again, Helen and her reaction, leaving no prints? Sherman and his acting? Hard work? Gina and the police?

9. Helen, Frank's fascination, turning off the machine, meeting at the market, the date, the passion? Talking, going out, the bar? The gun and her reaction, his reaction with the gun? The shoe shop, the revelation that he was a policeman, the two young toughs, her anger? The possibility of the relationship? The phone call, the supermarket, the passionate and erotice sequences, the effect on each? Not giving him her fingerprints? Telephoning Sherman? The night, meeting Helen's mother, the hesitation, the poems and the addresses on the refrigerator, leaving?

10. With Helen, the fear, the gun, accosting her, her fear, the corridor being empty, the final attack, the revelation that the murderer was her husband? The fight and his death?

11. The solving of the case, Helen leaving, meeting again after months, walking the New York streets, his change of attitude, her relenting, a future?

12. Helen and the audience wondering whether she was guilty or not, at the restaurant, the talk about turning on and off, meeting Frank, the shoe shop, her child, her mother? The dates, her motivation? Her husband and the divorce? Sexual relationships? In the shop, the discovery of the truth, her relenting, her fear of the gun, her being accused, tension?

13. Sherman and his background from Queens, at the party, singing, with the squad, the making up of the poems? The visit to Brown and finding him dead? The plan, the cafe, his acting the part? The wedding and inviting Frank? The night with Gina? Warning Frank against meeting Helen? Meeting him again - and their separate ways, their friendship?

14. The sketch of the New York Police, at work, the police chief and his anxieties, Gruber? Gruber married to Frank's ex-wife?

15. The murderer, the background as a witness, his giving evidence, the truth, the plausibility?

16. Gina and her dating, relationships? At the cafe? With Sherman? The neighbour and her entertaining the police? Good characters of the women in the cafe?

17. The sketch of Frank's father - the prospect for Frank?

18. The single scene in New York, personnal columns, dating, relationships, deceptions, violence?

19. Insight into the police, their work, burnt out cases? Relationships Sexuality and violence?