Review of The Brooklyn Banker (2016) by Jeff F — 06 Aug 2016

Television, Film, and literature has one great curse. The Critic. When Mario Puzo was first trying to sell "The Godfather' most every publisher said "who wants another Mafia Book?" I recall reading the review in USA today after season one of the Sopranos. The critic wrote "...would have benefited from the editing required by network time and content restraints, which would have made the rambling episodes tighter and cleared them of their worst ...".

To think "some video connoisseur" almost caused the early demise of Seinfeld and Casablanca. And that same "evaluator" did squash endless other great movies and TV shows. Why? Because reviewers have set themselves up as the arbiter of "good" work. Sadly, the history of Entertainment commentators is they are so busy with their fake artistic analysis they often miss the real genius.

I write all of this because if you were to read some of these pundits you might run the risk of being turned off before ever seeing Brooklyn Banker. That my friend, would be your great loss. Fortunately I hadn't read any if the reviews before seeing the movie. Last night I saw the film and was just blown away.

Brooklyn Banker is nothing short of brilliant.

Of course its no wonder critics are anxious to try calling this "just another mafia wannabe". After all its actors include many of the proven Mafioso types from the Sopranos and the director himself is Federico Castelluccio. The actor-turned-director, Castelluccio impressively played imported hitman Furio Giunta on the Sopranos. But that is part of the magic. These are the best of the best. Here you see the folks that made Goodfellas, Godfather and alas, the Sopranos part of the American video time honored standards.

Now ready to be added to this list of film classics is "Brooklyn Banker".

Brooklyn Banker is a world away from just being "another Mafioso movie". Rather it is a superbly written suspense drama with fantastic acting made more powerful by Castelluccio magnificent directing.

BROOKLYN BANKER is nothing short of movie suspense magic. There are endless plot twists and turns. There is drama and tension that is the stuff that chiller nightmares are made of. The plot is in a class by itself. I challenge you to figure out the mystery in advance. It is so clever you will surely love it. In fact as the reality unfolds you'll be impressed with its inventiveness and originality. Its packed with cliff hanger pot boiler tension. ADVICE: don't take your goumada or some other dumb blonde or you will be spending the next two days explaining what happened.

In short, its all here... the push-pull of good and evil. And the acting! If looks could kill... just turn to the accomplished Paul Sorvino who delivers a dazzling riveting performance. A single stare or glance can change the entire mood. Sorvino is a real actors actors. And since guns can kill, you have a perfect collection of mobster types. This includes the truly frightening capo David Proval ("the hand") as well as many of the Soprano heavy's. The acting ... Proval is the definition of mob-terror. He should be. He has been doing these parts since starring in Mean Streets (Tony)in 1973. More recently he was Richie Aprile in the Sopranos. And he has gotten nothing but more formidable, forceful and terrifying over the years. And if even the good guys look familiar, they should, they are all polished actors. And one of the most impressive performance is delivered in Henry Fonda-like deadpan by Troy Garity. I guess Garity comes by the Fonda style rightfully. Henry Fonda is his grandfather and Jane Fonda his mother.

I wont rehash the basic plot ... I will leave that to the newspaper hacks. Let me just say... you have great actors, sparkling different and clever script in one of films favorite subjects. See it now before the box office lines form. Whatever you do ... do not miss it.

And if some newspaper artsy-crafty film writer tells you ...anything...

Fuugettaboutit! This movie is great. Capisce?