Bringing out the Dead

urned out New York paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) seems on loan to Martin Scorsese from Mike Figgis of “Leaving Las Vegas” fame. It’s vintage Cage, a man who snapped long before the camera gets to his story. He’s not really helping anyone, he says, merely “bearing witness.” Scorsese follows Cage (who narrates) through three days of desolate shifts with fellow medics Larry (John Goodman), Marcus (Ving Rhames), and Walls (Tom Sizemore). Each is unraveling in his own way. No American actor is more accomplished at demonstrating the haunted than Cage. And no American director cares for New York City enough to make its filth sing so purely. A unique film, and one of unabated sadness.