...which i love, and was wanting to know if this is similar. How do the two compare?
Eight year olds, Dude!
I haven't seen Factotum yet but from what I hear about it,
I'm sure I will enjoy it.
I guess that means if you like that movie you may like Barfly very much too.
I'd recommend it to ANY fan of Alex Cox's REPO MAN,
so that might be all you need to make your decision.
Plate O' Shrimp
-Dave Zav
if you thought factotum was good, BOY, will you like barfly
shareBoth films are excellent.
Barfly is a magnificent film - period. I would have liked it regardless of the fact it is about Charles Bukowski (Chinaski). Bukowski claimed he thought Rourke was too pretty to play him in the film.
Factotum on the other hand is a little slower paced film but a better depiction of Bukowski. Matt Dillon does an amazing job of chaneling the essence of the poet. This film is better if the viewer knows a little about Bukowski. The documentary Born Into This is helpful.
~little wing~
Bukowski at first liked Barfly but claimed to dislike it later in life. Linda Bukowski claimed to love Factotum and called Barfly a 'piece of *beep*
I think in reality Bukowski was a fairly sensitive guy and became offended by the Rourke portrayal of him over time because that became most peoples image of him.
Rourke overplayed the character and put in some ridiculous and somewhat insulting mannerisms into the film and played Bukowski as a bit snide. If you considered yourself a sensitive artist who just happened to be broke at that time it would grate on your nerves having the world believe you were like Mickey Rourke.
Though I still think that Bukowski still shines through in the movie despite all this and the film is great because of this.
Factotum goes entirely the opposite direction it shows Bukowski as a brooding philosophical, sensitive artist.
Frankly seeing interviews with Bukowski, Rourke is closer to Bukowski than Dillon in Factotum. Factotum presents an idealized vision of Bukowski. Barfly is more accurate but Rourke is a bit off in his portrayal in an insulting way.
Barfly is the better movie though by far.
I loved both films, but I definitely prefer Barfly to Factotum. Even though Rourke overplayed his role I still felt that it was probably a more accurate portrayal of Bukowski than Dillon's. Also, having read Factotum (novel) there was just too much left out of the movie version to really enjoy it.
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