FEDERAL HILL (1994)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
While big Hollywood films show that the most original and
fascinating stories can be destroyed with cliches, small low-budget
independent films prove that even the most overused and cliched
stories can look refreshing with seemingly little effort. FEDERAL
HILL, 1994 crime drama written and directed by Michael Corrente, is
one example of those small films.
The plot is set in Providence, Rhode Island and shows lives of five
best friends who grew up in Federal Hill, local Italian American
neighbourhood. Almost all of them are in one way or the other
connected with crime - Joey (played by Robert Turano) is paroled
convict; Bobby (played by Jason Andrews) owes some serious money
to serious people; Ralph (played by Nicholas Turturro) robs houses
for living; Frank (played by Michael Raynor) is a son of local mobster;
Nicky (played by Anthony DeSando) is a small-time cocaine dealer.
Most of Nicky's customers are rich kids attending nearby college
including Wendy (played by Libby Langdon), beautiful girl with
whom Nicky falls in love and starts relationship. That infuriates
Ralph, concerned that the hopeless romance would hurt his best
friend. Ralph also has some problems of his own, problems that
could lead to violence.
Plot about group of best friends from Italian American
neighbourhood being involved in various forms of organised crime
isn't very original and was used in many films following Scorsese's
GOODFELLAS. The ending of the film is not going to be much of a
surprise for the viewers accustomed to such stories. What sets this
film apart is authenticity - Michael Corrente employed much of his
autobiography in the film and developed some interesting characters.
That gave opportunity for Nicholas Turturro, one of Hollywood's
most underused character actors, to deliver a very interesting
performance. Most noticeable and most original element of
FEDERAL HILL is black-and-white cinematography and use of small
town for the setting of Mafia story. Those little details were enough
for FEDERAL HILL to turn into interesting and entertaining little
film.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
Review written on April 12th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society
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