New Int'l. Release

People I Know

Soul sick Gotham press agent Eli (Al Pacino) visits with his sister-in-law (Kim Basinger) in Miramax Films' pre-9/11 'People I Know.'

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Shot in early 2001 and just completing post when the events of Sept. 11 changed the rules overnight regarding screen depictions of New York, this brooding character study-cum-thriller couldn't have come along at a more inopportune time. The much discussed shot in which Pacino's drugs and booze-addled character, in a post-binge haze, sees the World Trade towers lying on their sides has been removed. But even with that strategic cut, the film's cynicism could hardly play more abrasively against the mood of renewal and rehabilitation in wounded Gotham.

A not-so-distant relative of Sydney Falco in "Sweet Smell of Success," Eli Wurman (Pacino) is a Georgia Jew whose youthful involvement in the civil rights movement, along with his morality, has been put aside to serve a now-depleted client list. Moth-eaten and almost washed-up, he's angling to redeem himself by organizing a benefit for imprisoned Nigerian immigrants without green cards.

Eli is distracted, however, when Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal), one of his few remaining movie star clients, calls for crisis management. Launer's affair with druggy TV starlet/model Jilli Hopper (Tea Leoni) causes problems when the girl lands in jail.Launer asks Eli to bail her out and put her on a plane before the scandal can damage his chances in the upcoming Senatorial race.

But Jilli drags Eli downtown to a luxury Wall Street opium den and sex club. Before being thrown out, Jilli reveals she has a recording gadget with downloadable images of the club's high-profile clientele including Jewish civic leader Elliot Sharansky (Richard Schiff). Back in Jilli's hotel room, Eli is on the verge of passing out when an intruder overpowers the girl and sticks her with a fatal overdose.

Unsure of what he witnessed, Eli avoids police to focus on the benefit. Led by the Rev. Lyle Blunt (Bill Nunn), the black community is up in arms about the mayor's persecution of underprivileged minorities and incensed over the lack of support from the city's well-heeled Jews.

Eli corners both Blunt and Sharansky and gets them to speak at the benefit. Strong-arming Launer into attending, Eli dangles the star as a carrot to entice the two reluctant adversaries.

Sleep-deprived, ailing and becoming visibly unhinged, Eli underestimates the danger from his knowledge of Jilli's murder and possession of the incriminating recording device. His vulnerability is further heightened by the presence in town of his widowed sister-in-law, Victoria (Kim Basinger), for whom his feelings clearly run deeper than friendship.

Adopting a colorful Southern accent and looking distinctly haggard, Pacino conveys a very cogent sense of Eli's drained state. Also palpable is the self-loathing over the direction his life has taken, squandering his Harvard law background to be a celebrity lapdog. Ranking alongside "The Insider" as Pacino's best, most controlled work in some time, it's a pained, exposed performance that rivets attention even as playwright Jon Robin Baitz's script veers at times into murky ambiguity.

The drama's kinship with '70s anti-establishment thrillers is underlined by a poster on Eli's office wall for "The Parallax View." But the information on manipulation of the Senate campaign by Sharansky and his cronies is too sketchy. Likewise the pic's ending, which cleverly aligns Eli's downfall with his media triumph and represents an audaciously downbeat conclusion rather than a Hollywood-style cop-out, but under-defines certain key climactic events.

Generally, however, the screenplay is taut and intelligent, sizzling with enough sharp dialogue and dark humor to coast over its flaws. In addition to the unseen mayor, clear parallels between fictional characters and their real-life counterparts add to the caustic edge. Womanizing, politically ambitious Cary Launer appears inspired by Warren Beatty, while Rev. Blunt owes much to Al Sharpton. Eli himself is believed to be modeled after legendary press agent Bobby Zarem, who has publicly denied the similarities.

Director Dan Algrant ("Naked in New York") keeps a propulsive grip on the action, communicating a dizzying sense of Eli's determination while working on diminishing reserves of strength and lucidity and trying to sidestep entanglement in politics.

Cast is uniformly terrific. In a small but significant role, Basinger radiates tenderness, intelligence and hope; Leoni shapes a raw but nuanced character out of the jaded party girl; and Schiff brings chilly authority to Sharansky, amusingly playing off Nunn's performance of empowered umbrage as the black reverend. O'Neal combines professional public-profile charm with self-centered focus, and Mark Webber registers sympathetically as Eli's put-upon assistant.

Peter Deming's gritty lensing puts an appropriately seedy gloss on the Manhattan settings, while Terence Blanchard's cool, jazz-tinged score quietly fuels the suspense.

Camera (FotoKem color), Peter Deming; editor, Suzy Elmiger; music, Terence Blanchard; production designer, Michael Shaw; art director, Charles E. McCarry; set decorator, Andrew Baseman; costume designer, David Robinson; sound (Dolby Digital), Michael Barosky; assistant director, Jude Gorjanc; casting, Juliet Taylor, Laura Rosenthal, Ali Farrell. Reviewed at Metropolitan Cinema, Rome, Oct. 4, 2002. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 100 MIN.