"I'll tell you, right now... I'm in love with you. But, be that as it may, i am not here to force my twisted soul into your life."

Cagefest – our (unofficial) Nicolas Cage Film Fest (aka, NIFF), a solid 5 days’ worth of our fave performances from one of our all-time favourite contemporary actors. On Friday, October 2 we'll be featuring Cage's Oscar-winning performance in Mike Figgis' 1995 painfully romantic, humane, yet ultimately bleak drama LEAVING LAS VEGAS, adapted from the novel by John O'Brien.

In this performance, Cage shows the fierce, uncompromising depth of his cinematic prowess as Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter with a death wish. Having lost everything because of his excessive drinking, he arrives in Las Vegas with the sole purpose of drinking himself to oblivion. Unexpectedly, he meets and starts an unconventional friendship with a beautiful prostitute named Sera (Elizabeth Shue, in an Oscar-nominated role). Before moving in with her, they form and agree to a "non-interference" pact - one where she can't ask him to curb his drinking, and he can't fault her for her job. Though they offer each other support, Ben's self-destruction threatens to eclipse their bond. With Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Valeria Golino.

"Nicolas Cage finds humanity in his character as it bleeds away in this no frills, exhilaratingly dark portrait of destruction." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"A love story like no other, Mike Figgis's 'Leaving Las Vegas' is a bleak, mesmerizing rhapsody of self-destruction, defiantly uninterested in peddling Hollywood-style uplift." (Newsweek)
"The film pulls no punches, takes no prisoners and flies in the face of feel-good pictures." (Variety)

Friday, October 2
Doors 6:30 pm | Movie 7:00 pm
Advance tickets $15 | $15 at the door

LEAVING LAS VEGAS (Mike Figgis, 1995 / 112 mins / 18A) Ben Sanderson, a screenwriter who lost everything because of alcoholism, moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets Sera, a prostitute, and moves in with her.