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Director Abel Ferrara followed up the triumph of BAD LIEUTENANT with this quasi-autobiographical film. Harvey Keitel stars as Eddie Israel, a director whose current project, MOTHER OF MIRRORS, seems parallel his own life (which in turn parallels Ferrara's). The film-within-a-film stars Sarah Jennings (Madonna) and Francis Burns (James Russo) as a married couple whose shared life of cocaine, booze, and group sex has come to an end now that she has renounced her past in favor of God. Drinking heavily and snorting coke to get into his role, Francis finds the violent behavior of his character is taking over his reality, as he starts abusing Sarah off the set as well as on. Eddie meanwhile starts his own affair with Sarah, leading to confrontation with his wife (played by Nancy Ferrara, Abel’s real-life wife) and his own moral dissolution. Shot on a variety of film stocks, this search for spiritual redemption--drenched in violence, drugs, and sex--makes for a heavy viewing experience. Regardless of opinion about the film itself, there is no denying the sheer bravery of this unflinching mirror of Ferrara's own life and art.
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