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Show | ' ; age! PEt ry. _ DECEMBER WASATCH COUNTY COURIER 6, 2000 B3 | wry i REVIEW ENITé “When it comes to i Dreams KKK 1/2 STARS Review by Paul Swenson 2 SERS WV hen maker an unknown makes his film- tle social circle, which wants to quickly snuff any dream or ambition perceived as uppity. He’s a working class _ failure in Estelle’s eyes, and she likes him that way. Buddy’s drinking companions give him similar grief for becoming a “home po owner” in a “Mick” neighborhood, where he is faced with obstinate ten- first Ae ANN aes I TW DBMS en PMS original investment. Notice that, instead, it often works the other way around. Consider all those hacks out there juggling big budgets and paying big stars huge salaries. 2 edness of his characters. Estelle, Buddy _ ough of Staten Island in 1956. And he and their friends hate blacks and stereotype other ethnicities. Jim O’ Neary, the drunken and abusive tenant; beats Mary -— some shysters’ 6k os MEY. WED-SAT 5:30-9:30 * SUN 5:30-8:30 | es 100 S, HEBER CITFY,.UTAH (435) 954-2354 | | neg ipo eventually wakes up to contributes to his decision to pay for her move to a small, clean apartment—he desperately needs: someone to talk to who isn’t pes- simistic, judgmental or brain dead. The last reel’s focus on Buddy’s and Mary’s relationship, which begins as a | wary, tentative friendship and pro- © T? The emotional tone fluctuates between. ramshackle Victorian home in an Irish .,., neighborhood of Staten Island, and _Buddy’s wife Estelle (Narducci) and ioc agi WV », his friend Chipmunk (Matt Servitto) where Estelle has summoned Buddy for a public showdown—while friends x, age =f. sister), stirs Buddy’s dormant ¥ 0 and strangers eavesdrop from adjoin_ing booths— has a powerful kick. Whether you accept De Felitta’s __. point out its obvious deficiencies, we finale will depend on how willingly — ~ may wish to dismiss him as delusional _ - you’ve agreed to: what’s gone before "when he doesn’t listen. (including a ‘slightly awkward voiceYet something about Buddy ake us want to take his part. In an early over narration: by Mary’s grown-up child who’s recalling this story in retflashback to his tour of duty in the rospect). Like so much of his work, his N avy, he sings at a talent show. His ending takes risks too. Those filmgovoice is aS smooth and rich as mari- nara sauce and he has an ingratiating if . “deal” on the crumbling remains of a fury and violence. A scene ina diner, ee oe pte 2 decency. But something else that Buddy innocence, bliss, turmoil and eventual (Rispoli) Ue eee ee support—except an occasional handout — from a a Buddy Visalo | double life looms during this sequence. es feel spontaneous and unrehearsed. we observe Utah Red Trout Grilled Tri- Tip Steak “Belle Isle” Baby Back Ribs Housemade Pastas and Desserts Vegetarian Selections | Buddy to butt out when he tries to pro- abet of 2000, whose rough edges and ama- - question of how De Felitta will choose: teur tone work for it rather than against to break the tension and confront _ it, and whose naturalistic performanc- -Buddy with the loose threads of his When Food Herb Grilled Chicken with Mashed Potatoes lets his movie breathe the real air of people forced to learn from the stupidi- -gresses to intense and relatively guiltless adultery, holds our attention ty of their cultural limitations. because we know it cannot last. The The result? One of the freshest films offering ee Tit infidelity, racial prejudice and lingering ethnic hostility in the tight little bor- get any betters, vt “ ~ 10 Spice Salmon with Japanese Stir Fry 2, in Kelly: Macdonald. His screenplay confronts the underside of cheap dreams: | Double Cut Stuffed Pork Chop tect her. ones willing to trot out the tired formuWrapped in an oversize ahect that dhe Bice ne las and ineffectual special effects that — has safety-pinned into a maternity frock, ff} define the current lack of imagination Irish Mary isn’t grateful for anyone Bo in Hollywood. Conversely, a iter dated like help and greets any show of pity or condescension as guiltand hypocrisy.When — || Raymond De Felitta has nothing to Mary gives birth to a black baby and her lose. With no reputation to defend and . no studio backing, he has no one to lec- abusive husband abandons her, Buddy at first appears almost ascoldandheart == ture him about how self-indulgent and foolish it would be to base a film on a less as his wife and. friends—who | expe her immediate-evictt mi,as f family anecdote’ about. his’ real-life cial adultery and her black of spring Uncle Buddy’s tawdry, working-class dream of opening his own bar to pro- have tainted the premises. Something about Mary’s hard-won | vide a captive audience for his ambidecision to keep her baby (although tions as a crooner. she’s reduced to residence in a fleabag So what does De Felitta do? He hotel inhabited mostly by prostitutes, makes his movie and takes as many and has no visible means of chances as he pleases. He talks a couple of bit players from TV’s celebrated mob drama, “The Sopranos,” Michael Rispoli and Katherine Narducci, into working | for scale and a percentage of any unlike-_ ly profits. He discovers a fresh new face _ PLAN YOUR | ‘NEW YEAR'S EVE DINNER EARLY! (Macdonald) his much younger and ff. _ pregnant wife, and she herself tells. | 2. often than not, they’re the It just doesn't Mountain Times, “Best of the Summit 2000” movie and. shoots it in a mere 25° ants who refuse to vacate the upstairs apartment that he intends to occupy days for a comparatively paltry $2 with Estele, while he remodels the million, you assume he will play it main floor for the bar. One of the risks that De Felitta runs out conservatively, take very few early in the movie is his unwillingness to risks and hope to make back his whitewash the pettiness and small-mind- More lL the reverse snobbery of their stuffy lit- . WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY RAYMOND DE FELITTA. STARRING MICHAEL RISPOLI, KELLY MACDONALD, KATHERINE NARDUCCI, KEVIN - CONWAY AND MATT SERVITTO. — ; R his fiancée) to think of Buddy eichie 7 for anything that might lift him out of K Th Two Family House R| a aur ers looking for a life preserver amid the flood of debris from one of the - unpolished performing style. A talent scout named Arthur Godfrey takes an - worst movie years in recent memory should take a chance on a picture that interest and wants to spotlight him as has no pretensions beyond its modest an Italian-American crooner for his ability to tell a good story. . radio show. But it alarms Estelle (then ; |