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 Andreychenko	...	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
Jace Kent	...	Mechanic
Marianna Lead	...	Clara
Gene Ruffini	...	Janitor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leonid Citer		(as Leonid Uscher)
Tuesday Knight	...	Actress on Television (uncredited)

Directed by
James Gray

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
James Gray		writer

Produced by
Claudia Lewis	....	executive producer
Rolf Mittweg	....	executive producer
Kerry Orent	....	co-producer
Paul Webster	....	producer
Nick Wechsler	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Dana Sano

Cinematography by
Tom Richmond

Film Editing by
Dorian Harris

Casting by
Douglas Aibel

Production Design by
Kevin Thompson

Art Direction by
Judy Rhee

Set Decoration by
Charles Ford

Costume Design by
Michael Clancy

Makeup Department
Karen Nichols	....	key hair stylist
Karen Nichols	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Christopher Goode	....	production manager
Michael J. Harker	....	post-production supervisor
Lisa Rosen	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Steve Apicella	....	first assistant director
David M. Cox	....	second assistant director
David 'Wex' Wechsler	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Annie Ballard	....	on-set dresser
Dave Dearberg	....	property master
Danny Rovira	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Ulrika Akander	....	dialogue editor
Tony Cappelli	....	sound editor
Fred Cipriano	....	sound effects editor
Susan Dudeck	....	adr editor
Gary Gegan	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jeanne Gilliland	....	boom operator
Lewis Goldstein	....	supervising sound editor
Matthew Iadarola	....	supervising re-recording mixer
David Jobe	....	foley mixer
John A. Larsen	....	supervising sound editor
Tom Paul	....	production sound mixer
Alicia Stevenson	....	foley artist

Special Effects by
Drew Jiritano	....	special effects
John Stifanich	....	special effects

Stunts
Roy Farfel	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Tony Arnaud	....	dolly grip
David Burroughs	....	best boy grip
Prashant Gupta	....	still photographer
Margaret Heidenry	....	grip
Jonathan Mintz	....	key grip
Yiannis Samaras	....	assistant camera: second unit
Eric Schmidt	....	gaffer
Emelia Stockdale	....	first assistant camera
Andrew T. Watts	....	best boy electric
Elizabeth Wick	....	second assistant camera (as Liz Wick)

Casting Department
Jordan Beswick	....	casting assistant
Kalev Kuusoeks	....	extras casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Kevin Donaldson	....	costume assistant
Victoria Farrell	....	assistant costume designer
Joan Kaufman	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Jeffrey Ford	....	assistant editor
Brian Johnson	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Dick Bernstein	....	music editor (as Richard Bernstein)
Richard Henderson	....	music coordinator
Philip Tallman	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Bobby Marsh	....	driver

Other crew
Gavin J. Behrman	....	set production assistant
Suzanne Celeste	....	dialect coach: Tim Roth
Eddy Collyns	....	location manager
Brian David Fisher	....	production assistant
Teri Kane	....	unit publicist
Sarah Lindborg	....	location assistant
Victoria McGarry	....	production coordinator
Andy Muller	....	office runner
Margo Myers	....	production accountant
Julie Oppenheimer	....	script supervisor
Andrew Saxe	....	assistant location manager
Mimi Turner	....	production assistant
Rick Washburn	....	firearms

Production Companies

• Fine Line Features
• Live Entertainment
• New Line Cinema

Distributors

• Cipa (France)
• Fine Line Features (1995) (USA)
• Les Films Number One (France)
• Líder Films (Spain)
• Paris Vídeo (Brazil) (video)
• Roadshow Entertainment Video (Australia) (VHS)
• Starmedia Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Vitória Filmes (Portugal)

Other Companies

• Skywalker Sound  post-production sound services

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:

Arkady Shapira: You know there is a saying: When a child is six years old, it says, "the father can do everything". When he's twelve, he says, "the father can almost do everything". When he's sixteen, he says, "the father is an idiot". When he's twenty-four, he says, "the father wasn't maybe such an idiot", and then, when he's forty, he says, "if I could only ask my father". But I'm afraid my sons will never ask themselves that.

Movie Connections:

Features Vengeance Valley (1951)

Raw, naked, haunting & cold.

I saw this movie at a quite low age, I consider it one of the films that evoked my passion for this art form. This film is very bare, very raw yet somehow harmonious, as well. The violence is very well depicted, in a very cold & frightful way. This is a film without any greater hope, without any greater optimism of our future. A rapid & haunting way of showing the true face and consequences of brutal violence. Intensively and artistically this film displays a chaotic & desperate family, a destiny very honest and very haunting. Cinematography is stunning, as is the environment, which very well defines the fundamental characteristics of this film, cold, naked, intense & raw. Great debut by the very promising James Gray.