While big Hollywood films show that the most original and fascinating stories can be destroyed with cliches, small low-budget independent films prove that even the most overused and cliched stories can look refreshing with seemingly small effort. Federal Hill, 1994 crime drama written and directed by Michael Corrente, is one example of those small films.
The plot is set in Providence, Rhode Island and shows lives of five best friends who grew up in Federal Hill, local Italian American neighbourhood. Almost all of them are in one way or the other connected with crime - Joey (played by Robert Turano) is paroled convict; Bobby (played by Jason Andrews) owes some serious money to serious people; Ralph (played by Nicholas Turturro) robs houses for living; Frank (played by Michael Raynor) is a son of local mobster; Nicky (played by Anthony DeSando) is a small-time cocaine dealer. Most of Nicky's customers are rich kids attending nearby college including Wendy (played by Libby Langdon), beautiful girl with whom Nicky falls in love and starts relationship. That infuriates Ralph, concerned that the hopeless romance would hurt his best friend. Ralph also has some problems of his own, problems that could lead to violence.
Plot about group of best friends from Italian American neighbourhood being involved in various forms of organised crime isn't very original and was used in many films following Scorsese's Goodfellas. The ending of the film is not going to be much of a surprise for the viewers accustomed to such stories. What sets this film apart is authenticity - Michael Corrente employed much of his autobiography in the film and developed some interesting characters. That gave opportunity for Nicholas Turturro, one of Hollywood's most underused character actors, to deliver a very interesting performance. Most noticeable and most original element of Federal Hill is black and-white cinematography and use of small town for the setting of Mafia story. Those little details were enough for Federal Hill to turn into interesting and entertaining little film.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on April 12th 2004)
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