Iggy Pop lends his acting chops to Blood Orange, a short (83 minutes), not-so-sweet, but very satisfying noir-thriller set in Spain. If you are into films like The Last Seduction, Shallow Grave and House on the Edge of the Park, you will get some reasonable pleasure out of watching this.
Our main man Iggy plays Bill, an aging half-blind rock star who lives in a villa with a promiscuous wife, Isabelle (Kacey Barnfield), with help from a pool boy called David (Antonio Magro). Lots of sun and no shortage of sangria have created the Life of Riley for these two, who live a very healthy life with sex thrown into the mix.
One day, an old flame of Isabelle, Lucas (Ben Lamb), turns up on their doorstep with paperwork pertaining to an inheritance belonging to his father, whom Isabelle was married to before Bill. Lucas is understandably miffed that he has been cut out of the will by his father, who has subsequently left it to Isabelle and appears to be focusing more than unhealthily on Bill, who also has one or two health concerns. Bill is smart enough to cotton on to Lucas’ intentions, and persuades the ex-lover to stay, thus beginning a chain of events down a seemingly darker path to revelation and closure….
Director Toby Tobias’ background in music video production makes him the ideal helm for a film starring Iggy Pop, having worked on the likes of In Bed with Madonna and Spice World – the Movie.Blood Orange does have the slickness of any number of MTV-fave plays.
Furthermore, at the heart of it lie some reasonable philosophies and exchanges between Lucas and Isabelle regarding the true nature of sex and love. Iggy Pop is actually very good in this film, giving a competent performance that evokes the best of the likes of gruff veteran Sam Elliott in films likeRoad House, for example, and that certainly adds to the appeal of the film. Often, the subtext of the film in noir is sacrificed for the shock moment or revelation.
Blood Orange is tightly-scripted and sufficiently holds the attention. It does have legs and potential – and you cannot ask for anything more than that in a noir.
Blood Orange is out on DVD on July 11.