Writer/director Michael Sergio's debut feature opens with a sequence in which a scrawny junkie kid staggers to his death through a desolate urban landscape; it's both dramatically powerful and semi-amateurish looking, and you get the feeling that the remainder of the film could go either way. Fortunately, despite occasional lapses into melodrama, it mostly gets better; it may not be as epochal a piece of work as MEAN STREETS, but packs what feels like a real-life punch none the less. The story, set in Astoria, Queens, across the river and a world away from Manhattan, centers on Ryan (Michael Rodrick), the older brother of the opening scene's dead junkie; he's returne...
Released:
2001
Rated:
R
Length:
90 mins