Editor’s note: Ten-Year Itch is a weekly column that takes a peek at a film or album at least 10 years old that is deserving of a second look.

Lets get this out of the way first. This week’s column is about a film starring Nicolas Cage. Please do not stop reading.

Before ‘National Treasure’ and ‘The Wicker Man,’ Cage had some great roles. There was ‘Leaving Last Vegas’ and ‘Wild At Heart’ where Cage’s eccentricities were on full blast, as he owned those films.

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Ten years ago Cage starred in an often-overlooked Martin Scorsese film titled ‘Bringing Out the Dead.’ Cage plays New York City paramedic Frank Pierce. The film follows Pierce through three nights of ambulance duty with a different partner for each night – John Goodman on the first night, Ving Rhames on the second night and Tom Sizemore on the third.

Each partner has his own way of coping with the stresses of trying to save lives.

Goodman eats and eats and eats; Rhames a look heavenward for his relief; and Sizemore is just flat-out crazy. The partners are integral parts of the film, but it is all about Cage’s Pierce and how the job has pushed him into a neurotic state that includes insomnia and hallucinations.

Pierce has started to see a young girl named Rose, whom he was not able to save. He was once known for his uncanny ability to save lives, but the loss of young Rose has put doubts in his mind about his abilities. The visions of Rose become so persistent Piece attempts to get fired, unsuccessfully. He then strikes up a relationship with Mary (Patricia Arquette) who is the daughter of a patient Pierce was able to save.

The two characters are both stuck in what they believe to be stagnant lives and attach themselves to each other. The attachment is not for love, but more out of a desire to save one another. The relationship spirals into drug use and pity, but eventually reaches a fruitful end.

Cage’s performance is a special one in this film. He brings to the character, this level of bubbling-under-the-surface craziness that few actors could have pulled off. It is a shame he seems content to turn out B-movie garbage like ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ these days.

While Cage is integral to the film’s success, it is a Scorsese film through and through.

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Few directors know New York like Scorsese and he proves it here. In the film, the city is a dark place, burning with the stress and loss that come along with Pierce’s job. It is a dire snapshot of his city, but a masterful one at that.

Luke McCormick can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275 or [email protected]