Review of Little Odessa (1994) by Allan C — 23 Nov 2017

This was a 1990s crime film I skipped at the time, but now wanted to go back to watch after greatly enjoying writer/director James Gray's more recent film "The Lost City of Z." In this film Tim Roth plays a hitman for the Russian Mob returning home to Little Odessa, a primarily Russian Neighborhood in New York City, but the main focus is on his younger brother Edward Furlong and the brothers' relationship to each other and their parents, Vanessa Redgrave as the terminally ill mother and Maximilian Schell as the caring father.

Although there is a crime story about the mafia going after Roth, at it's core "Little Odessa" is a dark family melodrama. Much like "The Lost City of Z," writer/director Gray creates rich characters with strong performances (Moira Kelly is also quite good as Roth's girlfriend).

Both films also similar present a terrific sense of place, that's reminiscent of the works of Herzog or Wim Wenders, where the setting and locations play almost as important a role in the film as the story and characters.

An unfortunate similarity between the two films is a slow meandering pace. A major strike against "Little Odessa" is that I'm not quite sure of the film's subtext or central theme. There's likely something about family, but whatever point Gray had in mind gets obscured by subplots and melodrama.

Still, despite the film's slow pace and lack of clear purpose, it's visually arresting, features strong performances, and paints a vivid picture of what it's like to live and breath in Little Odessa.

Deeply flawed, but well worth watching.