I think Alex Cox is an 'acquired taste', much like John Waters. Granted, Cox can be a lot more cryptic and sublime, be it Repo Man to Walker et al. But for what I've seen of The Winner, I think the key word to define the film is 'sleazy'. These are characters that are meant to be two dimensional, overly arrogant, greedy and stupid. You know - sleazy. DeNofrio is great as the lucky innocent. Too simple for Vegas, yet epitomizes the Las Vegas dream. Billy Bob and Rebeca et al I thought played brilliantly. Characters you'd expect to see in Vegas, but wouldn't want to get near. And like Waters, it's campy fun with a little more sinister undertone. One could surmise it's a retelling of the bible in a warped way ('His name is Phillip...? Why couldn't it be Jesus, or Moses...?') Or, another could say it's the flip side to Fear & Loathing. Instead of everyone being frightened of Hunter and Oscar and their excesses in the land of failure, there is hope and opportunity via complexity among simplicity? Yeah, maybe I'm reading too much into it - or maybe not enough? But that's the beauty of Cox I find. The unintentional has purpose, yet the purpose seems so unintentional. Ironically Cox goes deeper than Waters, but the pool toys can look just the same.
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