Factotum

Factotum stars Matt Dillon at his prickly best as Henry Chinaski, a professional alcoholic who spends most of his time being hired and fired from menial jobs. The film is a minor piece of storytelling that extracts soft affection and hard laughs from a fairly inconsequential string of events. It follows Henry through a number of awful jobs and a pair troubled relationships with equally intoxicated women played wonderfully by Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei.

The entire production remains beautifully low key. Every joke seems to stem from some slight glance or from a small bit of awkwardness and every striking dramatic development seems buried within a joke. The film works wonders through understatement, crafting characters so self deprecating and free of melodrama that we feel for them far more than those who whine. We love them for their wit and their honesty. Most importantly, we love that they maintain these attributes when so many other people would have already begun to pity themselves.

Grade: A-