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Notes from Underground

Screening on Film
Directed by Gary Walkow.
With Henry Czerny, Sheryl Lee, John Favreau.
US, 1995, 35mm, color, 88 min.
Print source: Olive Films

A highly original and unflinching adaptation of Dostoevsky's novella, Notes from Underground stars Henry Czerny (in a remarkable performance) as the alienated loner "The Underground Man." The location is changed from nineteenth-century St. Petersburg to present-day Los Angeles, and this modern context has The Underground Man confessing his own flaws, as well as his cruel opinions about the flaws of society in general, to a video diary. He is at once filled with self-hatred and arrogance, guilt and bitterness, and his failed attempt to change his attitude and connect with prostitute Liza (Sheryl Lee) reveals his complex humanity.

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