3 Businessmen

Making its DVD debut, this 1998 feature from British cult director Alex Cox unfolds its dream logic plot at a leisurely pace, beginning with two international art dealers—Frank King (played by Cox himself) and Bennie Reyes (Miguel Sandoval)—arriving in Liverpool on business. When the hotel staff vanishes during dinner, the pair wander the strangely depopulated city (which is allegedly losing residents because of the new Internet economy) looking for a meal. Their search mysteriously takes them further and further afield, to Rotterdam, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and finally to a desert village, where they meet a third businessman, Leroy Jasper (Robert Wisdom)…and the story's punch-line. Heavy on freeform dialogue, 3 Businessmen is a bit of a one-joke narrative, but it's a fairly witty film, although not in the same league as Cox's better-known works such as Repo Man and Sid and Nancy. DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette that is essentially a short skit with the main actors (still more or less in character) discussing their “puzzling” film. Recommended. (C. Cassady)