Factotum (film) - Plot

Plot

Bukowski's book, which is also titled Factotum, was published in 1975. The book and the film both center on the character of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s alter ego, who appears in much of his fiction. Although the book takes place in the 1940s in Los Angeles, the film is contemporary, and although it clearly is supposed to take place in an American city, the exact city is never specified.

In the film, Chinaski (Matt Dillon) is working toward becoming a writer and follows his own advice, quoting from one of Bukowski's own poems, "Roll The Dice," that "If you're going to try, go all the way." The film follows Chinaski as he works and gets fired from various, low-level jobs (including jobs at a pickle factory and a bicycle shop) while befriending various people including a co-worker, Manny (Fisher Stevens), who shares his love of gambling at the racetrack, and a couple of women he meets at bars.

The first woman that we see Chinaski meet in a bar, and who ends up being his most consistent companion throughout the film, is Jan (Lili Taylor), who, like Chinaski, is also an alcoholic. Soon after meeting Chinaski, she moves in with him in his cheap apartment, and becomes his lover and drinking partner. They co-exist comfortably in squalor until Chinaski becomes upset with Jan after discovering that he's contracted an STD from her. Then after Chinaski starts a new job, Jan gets upset with him and starts a fight, arguing that he's becoming "more respectable" and conformist. They break up after the fight, deciding that their relationship has become boring and predictable and that they no longer really need each other.

While he's unemployed again and trying to score his next drink, he meets another female barfly, Laura (Marisa Tomei), who feels sorry for Chinaski and helps him procure alcohol with the help of her wealthy "sugardaddy," an eccentric older man named Pierre.

After a strange misadventure on Pierre's boat, Chinaski briefly returns to Jan whom Chinaski eventually tracks down at a hotel where she's working as a maid. However, by the film's end, Chinaski finds that he's most comfortable being alone with just his alcohol and his writing to keep him company.