On one level, Ivans xtc. is a tale of greed and ambition set against the cut-throat world of Hollywood talent agents. Unfortunately, despite the best pretensions of Rose, that's what it is on every other level as well.
Great performances from Huston and Weller buckle under the weight of the director's ambitions. Freely adapted from Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Illyich and employing the latest digital technology ('Film is dead,' cries the revolutionary Rose), Ivans xtc. suffers most from unfavourable comparisons to Leaving Las Vegas and The Blackout. It has none of the originality of the former and lacks the excesses of the latter.