David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut House of Games is mesmerising study of control and seduction between two kinds of detached observers: a gambler who is also a con artist and a psychotherapist who is also an emerging pop-psych guru in the book market. The latter (played by Lindsay Crouse) meets the former (Joe Mantegna) when one of her clients is driven to despair from his debts to the card shark. Mantegna's character agrees to drop the IOUs in exchange for Crouse's attention at the seedy House of Games in Seattle, a mecca for conmen to talk shop and hustle unsuspecting... customers. The shrink gets so caught up in the arcane rules and world view of her guide over subsequent days that she observes--with no false rapture--various stings in progress inside and outside the club. Mamet's story finally becomes a fascinating study of two people protecting and extending their respective cosmologies the way rival predators fight for the same piece of turf. The psychological challenge is compelling; so is the stylised dialogue, with its pattern of pauses and hiccups and humming meter. Mostly shooting at night, Mamet also gave Seattle a different look from previous filmmakers, turning its familiar puddles into concentrations of liquid neon and poisonous noir. --Tom Keogh [show more]
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An over-worked psychologist (Lindsay Crouse) tries to help one of her patients who owes a huge gambling debt. She goes to a bar called 'The House of Games' to try and settle up with a con-artist named Mike (Joe Mantegna). However, she herself is quickly caught up in his confidence games, both as a fascinated student and a willing partner - and perhaps, victim.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play It’s the shrink vs the shark in the ultimate mind game! Starring Oscar nominee Lindsay Crouse (The Insider) and Joe Mantegna (Godfather III) as an unlikely team of con artists this witty and devious psychological thriller is Oscar nominee David Mamet’s directorial debut When a suicidal patient reveals that his gambling debt has him at the end of his rope dedicated psychiatrist Margaret Ford (Crouse) enters into the shadowy underground world of gaming to help him out At a seedy casino she boldly confronts Mike (Mantegna) the con man who holds her patient’s markers Duped into a high stakes poker match Margaret becomes intoxicated by Mike’s mastery as he both cheats at the game and charms her She quickly falls for him turning a blind eye to the fact that he’s a swindler who can’t be trusted And before long she finds herself sparring in a mental poker match of the heart … with deadly consequences
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