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starring: Shawn Andrews, Jouni Johannes Anttones, Rose Byrne, James Caan, Rob Campbell
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780792858409
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 0792858409
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: October 28, 2003
Running Time: 117 minutes
Sales Rank: 45476
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 2003
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Despite its brief theatrical release and dismal box-office returns, City of Ghosts marked an impressive directorial debut for Matt Dillon. While transplanting a film noir plot to exotic locations that John Huston might've found inviting, Dillon plays to his strengths as an actor, casting himself as a con artist with a guilty conscience, traveling to Cambodia to locate his unscrupulous mentor and partner (James Caan) and extricate himself from a career of bilking innocent victims. The dangerous territory includes a two-faced schemer (Stellan Skarsgård), a burly French hotelier (Gerard Depardieu), and an alluring architectural restorer (Natascha McElhone) tossed in for obligatory love interest, and Dillon (with cowriter and Wild at Heart author Barry Gifford) creates an engrossing sense of escalating danger as his character sinks into a quagmire of personal and political corruption. Humid atmosphere and colorful scenery add depth and texture to the film's familiar pulp-fictional trappings, suggesting a promising new direction for Dillon's offbeat career. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Matt Dillon in over his head
Matt Dillon wrote, directed and acted in this sort of pulp fiction tale about a con artist feeling guilty about bilking victims of a Hurricane Katrina-like mess. The cutting is a little too quick and the muddled plot is hard to follow for most of the movie. The soundtrack gets annoying with its endless southeast Asian whining sounds. James Caan is interesting, as usual. Maybe if Dillon had not tried to do too much, this film would have come out better. As it stands, it's worth a watch, I guess. ... Read More
Rating:  - MATT DILLON, OPUS 1
**** 2002. Written with Barry Lost Highway Gifford and directed by Matt Dillon. Jimmy flies to Cambodia in order to find Marvin, the man with whom he uses to swindle people for years now. There, Marvin is about to build a casino with an ex-general while Russian ex-partners are searching for him. I liked a lot Matt Dillon's first and only film to date, the director giving the impression that he really loves his characters. The description of life in Cambodia is also well observed and almost palpable, ... Read More
Rating: - MISLEADING TITLE?
Wasn't quite sure what the title of this movie was meant to convey. Perhaps that the characters were ghostlike? From the title, I expected a very different movie than what actually unfolded. There are no supernatural beings (ghosts) portrayed in this movie. Having lived in both Vietnam and Thailand for a number of months, I presume Cambodia is similar in look and feel. This movie really captures the feel of the region. I don't think I have seen a movie capture the flavor of a place as well as this ... Read More
Rating:  - Extremely powerful movie telling the tale of a Ponzi scheme fugitive
CITY OF GHOSTS is an extremely powerful movie, telling a story that
will pull the audience's intellectual, moral, rational and emotional
strings, but may lie outside of the grasp of the younger audiences,
with lower IQ's.
The strengths of this picture, is its no-nonsense, mature approach in
telling the tale of a Ponzi scheme creator, an insurance company that
had no underlying reserves and no intentions in paying any claims
that could arise from the policies ... Read More
Rating: - Great Movie!
Its a shame when I don't see a movie for quite a while just because it doesn't get the respect it deserves. This is a great crime drama. Its no soft drama either, it will keep other types of viewers interested as well. A story about a group of individuals connected only through their criminal activities can only turn out violent. Just the amount of distrust being spread around is entertaining enough.
Of course there is one true friendship which developes and is quite endearing throughout the movie. Sort ... Read More
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