Product Description

The lure of power has snared two brothers (Tim Roth and Edward Furlong) into a deadly web of danger, deceit and passion too strong to resist. Torn between the sinister yet seductive world of crime and the bonds of family loyalty, the brothers must risk their lives to make a stand in the brutal struggle for survival in the mean streets of New York. An all-star cast explodes in this action drama in the tradition of Goodfellas.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51971 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2002-08-27
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

From The New Yorker
Joshua the hit man (Tim Roth) returns to the Russian section of Brooklyn on a job, and for the first time in years he links up with his family: his mopey younger brother (Edward Furlong), his dying mother (Vanessa Redgrave), and his disapproving, belt-wielding father (Maximilian Schell). The writer and director, James Gray, draws formidable work from his cast (Schell, especially, looks invigorated), but you may feel that the characters are being used to thicken a mood piece rather than to advance a story. The tone alternates between dark-and-threatening and scummy-and-washed-out, as though Dostoyevski had had a hand in the screenplay. This potent, cheerless movie gets to you, and gets you down. It's one for a rainy day. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Almost too realistic, cruel and depressing. Serious stuff.
This 1994 film is set in Brighton Beach, the area of Brooklyn where Russians have settled. It's a rough and gritty neighborhood and we meet a family with multiple problems. The oldest son, Tim Roth, is a hit man for the mob who's been out of touch with his family for several years but has to come back to the neighborhood to carry out a murder. His teenage brother adores him and follows him to all the wrong places. The mother, played by Vanessa Redgrave, is dying of a brain tumor. The father, played by Maximillian Schell, works hard all day at a newspaper stand, cheats on his wife and is brutal to his sons. There is violence and murder throughout and the audience knows it will just get worse.

Usually, I complain because films like this are not realistic. However, I felt just the opposite about this film. It is almost too realistic, cruel and depressing. And there is no bit of lightness to offset the somber mood. I also felt some real emotion. To me this was serious stuff.

Performances were uniformly excellent, especially that of Maximillian Schell. He came across a real person with upsets and conflicts and bad choices. Tim Roth, who is actually a British actor, managed to get the New York street accent just right. The rest of the cast seemed completely authentic. I especially liked the family's large run-down apartment and the scenes shot near the beach during the winter. And the murders made me shudder because they were so very real.

The drama held my attention and let me feel the dilemma of this troubled family. It ends sadly, as I expected it would. And it is completely depressing. However, I liked it and therefore recommend it.

DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!!!!
The movie is great and the original DVD was, too (Pioneer released it a couple years ago, it was widescreen and had commentary and a really nice extra feature with the director's watercolors)

Well, this release is full-frame only, an effect that RUINS this beautiful, haunting, lyrical film. Just KILLS it! Better to not see it at all than to see it like this. (believe me, I have.) Plus Artisan didn't include any of the extra features from the previous edition. Hunt down the old one used somewhere!

Powerful flick
The story of a hitman named Joshua,who comes back to his childhood neighborhood in Brooklyn to do a hit. This soon starts trouble when he is reunited with his family. His mother is dying of a brain tumor, his father is a boozer and cheater who refuses to show any respect to his long lost son, and his little brother whom is so vulnerable to his brother's violence. A crime drama unlike others, which to say in a good way. Moves kinda slow at times, but other scenes are so powerful and rich that you won't even care. It also gives you a hard-edged look on Russian-American gangster life in NYC.