Little Odessa (1994)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

James Gray

Writer:

James Gray (writer)

Release Date:

19 May 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Between good and evil and heaven and hell is...

Plot:

This film tells a bitter tale of a dysfunctional family. Joshua, a cold-blooded professional killer...

Plot Keywords:

Dysfunctional Family | Brother | Mother | Abusive Father | Hitman

Awards:

3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Tim Roth	...	Joshua Shapira
Edward Furlong	...	Reuben Shapira
Moira Kelly	...	Alla Shustervich
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Irina Shapira
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Boris Volkoff
Natalya Andrejchenko	...	Natasha
Maximilian Schell	...	Arkady Shapira
David Vadim	...	Sasha
Mina Bern	...	Grandma Tsilya
Boris McGiver	...	Ivan
Mohammed Ghaffari	...	Pahlevi
Michael Khmurov	...	Yuri
Dmitry Preyers	...	Victor
David Ross	...	Anatoly
Ron Brice	...	Man with one leg

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Iceland:16 | Australia:R | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 (bw) | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Fine Line Features

Trivia:

This film contains just 454 shots in about 92 minutes of action (i.e. excluding the credits). This equates to an average shot length of about 12 seconds. This is very long compared to the 3 - 6 second standard of most Hollywood films made in the 1990s.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scenes where Mr. Schell is supposedly speaking Russian, his language is unintelligible beyond the simplest words.

Quotes:

Joshua Shapira: [Joshua is about to execute Pahlevi] Hey, do you believe in God?
Pahlevi: [sobbing] Yes!
Joshua Shapira: Good. We'll wait ten seconds and see if he comes to save you.

Movie Connections:

Features Vengeance Valley (1951)

Where is James Gray now?

A stunning debut by this young writer-director -- Dostoyevskian themes, an exact sense of place, and a lyricism touched by few of his peers. And now six years' wait!

While most U.S. indie filmmakers spent the 1990s studiously copying Tarantino, Gray in this overlooked gem created something entirely different: a character study of tragedy among the unhip and uncool. Torn by illness and the return of a prodigal son, a Russian immigrant family in New York tries to outlast the omens promising its destruction. The film owes something to Coppola, but you might feel the presence of Bergman, too. Unsentimental, unsparing, with brilliant performances by the principal cast. A must see.