Ops, I saw your answer to my comment only today, thanks for writing it. I am glad to know you like Johnny Cash! I agree with you 100%, I became actively interested in his music only after listening to the cd’s in his American Recordings series, which I agree contain some of his best work, they reach a higher level than any of his (already great) previous work. As for Nick Cave, he was married to a Brazilian and lived in Brazil for a few years, that’s when I first heard about and got interested in his music, guess he was more visible in the media there at that point. I loved his Murder Ballads cd, very beautiful, hypnotic melodies and eerie atmosphere. I haven’t kept up with his music but will look into it and keep the Burt Bacharach reference in mind from now on, thanks for mentioning it.

Talking about music, I finally watched Delirious and one of the many things that impressed me about it was the perfectly fitting, cool and beautiful soundtrack. Watching it was one intense experience, by the way, a bit unusual nowadays to get this from a movie. It made me laugh at points, but also brought up many different thoughts and feelings, sometimes almost painfully so, maybe because it’s rare to see a movie that actually makes me care about the characters like this one. They felt more like real people than characters, really, I liked and wished them all well, even Les, maybe Les more than anybody else actually, and I had a hard time watching the, well, “camera” scene at the end (trying to avoid spoilers here.) Let’s say it was with relieved appreciation that I saw the events unfold, it fit a certain character so well (in my opinion) that he would still have a redeeming side buried underneath all the crap life had dumped and encrusted on him. It was for me a realistic ending that kept the story in a “relateable” human level instead of falling into clichéd. What I mean by that is, if I were in the character’s shoes and had got to that point of resentment and frustration, I still would have done exactly the same thing he did at the end.
I have to mention, although it’s seems almost unnecessary due to it being so obvious, that Steve Buscemi is truly outstanding as Les. I think the look he gives Toby in that final scene, as he is turning to leave, manages to sum up all his feelings and in an amazing way even the whole story between both of them; it should in itself have been enough to give him an Oscar, if the Oscars were given based only on artistic merits, obviously. Anyway. What a beautiful, funny, well-crafted and written movie, no wonder it did not get more recognition, it’s not often that something of this quality does anymore. There’s something I noticed (or projected/imagined, not sure…) that I wanted to comment on: it seemed to me that as the story went on, Toby, who in my view started as a somewhat repulsive-looking young punk, became better and better looking, while Les started “ok looking” and then went downhill towards creepyfreak territory. I was wondering if this was something that you planned or if it was just me projecting their inner flaws or qualities into their looks as the story revealed them more clearly. By the way I understand now why you insisted on Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt for the main characters, after watching the movie it’s impossible to imagine anybody else in those roles. I also really liked Lohman as Karma.
Well now I will go back and re-read all the stuff you wrote about making Delirious, I skipped most of it not to spoil the experience of watching it. This comment is of course too long and I won’t be offended if you leave it out or cut it. OH AND THE MOST IMPORTANT (and it sums up my comment really…): THANKS FOR MAKING “DELIRIOUS”, I really enjoyed watching it!!!