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Poster for Factotum

Factotum

What matters most is how well you walk through the fire

2005 · 1h 34m · R Drama
Directed by Bent Hamer

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Overview

This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
74%
Tomatometer
Rotten

The transplant didn't take in Barfly, and it works no better here in Factotum. In each case, the baying of the boozehounds just seems repetitious and banal -- the noise endures but the joy is gone.

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
Rotten

Quite dull, truth be told. As good as Dillon and Taylor are in their roles, making us side with them even as we despise them, there's not a whole lot that happens in a life ruled by the bottle, the butt and the shag.

Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Fresh

This is one of the best movies of the year, and one of the two or three best performances.

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Fresh

Factotum is right up there with Barfly as a distillation of Bukowskian badinage, despite the current film's sketchier provenance.

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
Fresh

Dillon is better now that he's settled into sturdy middle age. He makes more sense; I never got him as a Tiger Beat centerfold.

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

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