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Pick of
the indies
Romance and Cigarettes
WITH Mac, actor John Turturro’s debut outing as a writer/director
was an extremely well wrought bit of realism based on the life
of his own father. His second feature, Illuminata, was a more
ambitious and somewhat flawed look at the life in the theatre.
So no surprises then that this, his third, is a fusion of both
films – a kind of working class musical with comedic bits
thrown in for good measure.
This is, to many, Turturro’s best film yet. Of course,
it is extremely theatrical, almost to the level of Lars Von
Triers, in that its characters yell and combust into dance at
any given time.
The songs they sing are familiar tunes (how Turturro afforded
the rights to these, God only knows) that pack a lot of emotional
punch. Turturro’s leading man is Nick (James Gandolfini),
an ironworker with a wife called Kitty (Susan Sarandon) and
three adult daughters.
Nick is having an affair and gets found out; the whole family
turns against him and he finds himself in the throes of a dilemma.
Does he keep his lover (Kate Winslet)? Or does he return to
the family fold, if they’ll have him?
His mate, Angelo (Steve Buscemi) is of little help while Kitty
has family members like Christopher Walken and friends like
Barbara Sukowa and a religious leader in Eddie Izzard.
It is kitchen-sink melodrama for sure, but there are plenty
of laughs and surprises here that make the material fresher
and more lively than one may expect, especially given the thought
that this is a kind of rough-hewn opera for the
people. |
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