United in their considerable desire for drink and cards, Jake, a gentle giant of a man, and dark, brooding Michel have become fixtures at the Unicorn, their local Belgian watering hole. Suddenly aware that their wants have outgrown the narrow confines of their village, these sympathetic rogues impulsively set out for Las Vegas, Nevada. While Jake and Michel pursue their exploits of satiation under the neon Day-Glo of 1970s America, their relatives and friends contend with sinister business of their own. Two forms of desire go afoul of each other, revealing the menace lurking behind the fagade of glitter in the New World, and of friendship in the Old World. Melding humour with rich characterisation and language, Claus conveys the precariousness of our beliefs and the grotesque and meaningful forms which human desire can assume. Among the animate paraphernalia of American trash culture, Hugo Claus has produced a richly textured and sharply observant meditation on desire.
