Dusk for a Hitman

Everyone thinks Canadians are always mild-mannered, but they have had plenty of violent gangsters. You just can’t mention them anymore, or Justin Trudeau will send you to jail. While there was still Canadian freedom of speech, Edwin Alonzo Boyd’s crimes were chronicled in Citizen Gangster and Vincent Cassel portrayed the notorious French import in Mesrine: Killer Instinct. Donald Lavoie’s biopic came in just under the wire. He killed a lot of people for his Quebecois gang, but even he has trouble whacking his own brother in Raymond St-Jean’s Dusk for a Hitman, which releases Friday on VOD.

Lavoie has long been estranged from his drunken father, but he somehow tolerates his messed-up brother Carl. Even though he has a wife and young daughter, he still considers Claude Dubois and the Dubois gang “like family.” That will be a mistake.

Usually, Lavoie is the one executing unsuspecting gang-members Dubois deems liabilities. However, Lavoie (not to be confused with the accomplished Austrian School economist, Don Lavoie) is in for a rough patch. First, due to bang-bang circumstances, he and his questionable partner kill a witness in an especially gruesome manner. Then his deadbeat brother starts making trouble for him. To make matters worse, organized crime investigator Roger Burns keeps coming around, asking if he wants to have a friendly chat.

Dusk for a Hitman is a super-grungy late-1970s-early-1980s period gangster movie, but it also has some style. St-Jean’s screenplay, co-written with Martin Girard, is pretty predictable, but in the way of almost every other hitman and mobster movie.

Even though Eric Bruneau has frequently worked with French Canadian auteurs like Xavier Dolan and Denys Arcand, he does not well-established image with most American audiences, but that serves the film well in Dusk. He definitely puts the “anti” in antihero with his more-than-slightly unhinged lead performance.

Sentsov’s Rhino

Among gangster films, this one is unusual, because almost none of its characters went to prison, but the director did. His crime was being Ukrainian in Crimea, which is weird, considering all decent countries recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine. Tragically, Putin saw it differently. Sentsov’s 2015-2019 stint in a Russian prison earned the director the Sakharov Award from the European parliament. Today, the film’s leading man is fighting for his country on the frontlines. Obviously, the current Ukrainian government has an antagonistic relationship with Russia, but that was much less so during the lawless 1990s, when Sentsov’s film is set. Life is hard and so is our protagonist’s head in Sentsov’s Rhino: Ukrainian Godfather, which releases this Friday.

There was a time when Rhino was a bullied little boy named Vova. However, the older he got, the tougher he had to be. His upbringing under his alcoholic father was not easy, as we see in an absolutely amazing time-lapse tracking shot that must quite a challenge to set-up. At first, Vova was just a street thug, but when he tangles with the wrong mobbed-up gym, he enlists with a rival gang for protection.

While his nickname is initially a source of embarrassment, its brutish implications are helpful to his reputation. After a period of slow but steady advancement, Rhino starts to make some aggressive moves of his own, which have violent consequences. In fact, he will regret many of his life choices, as the older, world-weary gangster confides to his mysterious companion, during the looking-back-in-retrospect flashforwards.

Rhino is too naturalistic to be a proper slam-bang gangster movie, but it is also much more violent and plot-driven than the average art-house social issue film. It very definitely tries to capture the vibe of 1990s that cause the disillusionment that contributed to the troubles of the 2000s. Had this period been more stable and transparent, it is less likely a Russian-aligned thug like Yanukovych could have risen to power. Indeed, this film is absolutely marinated in regret, on both the individual and collective levels.

Paid in Blood, Korean Gangsters Do What They Do Best

Chairman Oh will not allow his criminal syndicate to participate in the illicit drug trade. Lee Min-seok is technically retired from organized crime, but his debt-collection agency is not much different from the loan sharks’ leg breakers. The business everyone really wants to be in is, of course, real estate development, especially the grand spa-casino the Chairman is building. That kind of money is easily worth killing for in Yoon Young-bin’s Paid in Blood (a.k.a. Tomb of the River—that was a wise title change), which releases today on digital VOD.

The views from the Chairman’s coastal Gangneung resort will be spectacular for those who live long enough to see it. His steely, middle-aged Eastwood-ish lieutenant Kim Gil-suk assumed it wasn’t any of his business, since it technically sits in his syndicate rival Lee Chung-sub’s territory. However, Oh reassigns the project to Kim, partly to punish Lee for a drug-related incident in one of his karaoke parlors. The calmer, shrewder Kim also has a better temperament for this kind of project, involving investments from not-so-friendly competing outfits.

Inconveniently, Lee Min-seok will kill his old boss to take possession of his shares in the development. Kim tries to finesse Lee when he attempts to muscle his way into the project management, because the Chairman is philosophically opposed to violence. However, Lee has no such scruples, especially since he has a large supply of debtors willing to take the fall for him.

South Korean cinema has given us some terrific gangsters movies. Paid in Blood is not quite at the level of Nameless Gangster, but it is a solid example, executed with muscle and vinegary cynicism. Yoon definitely takes a hard look at next generation corporatist gangsters, who are more than a little put-off my reckless throwbacks like Lee.

Zhang Yimou’s Shanghai Triad

Tang is a gangster, but he rules Shanghai like an Emperor. Xiao Jinbao acts like his queen, but she is more like his consort, who could lose her position at the snap of his fingers. Young Tang Shuisheng is just a lowly servant, but he is also part of the royal family as a distant Tang clan relative. He will learn some hard lessons regarding the price of loyalty in Zhang Yimou’s Shanghai Triad, which re-releases virtually this Friday, in conjunction with Film Forum.

Shuisheng’s uncle sent for him from the provinces, because Boss Tang is more inclined to trust other Tangs. He will serve as Xiao’s errand boy and general whipping post. She does not make the transition easy for him, so the unsophisticated boy quickly starts to resent his mistress. Yet, she and the Tang organization will be the only support system he has after his uncle is fatally killed in a shootout.

Soon thereafter, Shuisheng must accompany Xiao and Tang, while they hide out on a nearly uninhabited island waiting for the bruhaha to blow over. Even he can see Xiao is trying to make trouble, but he remains unaware of her extremely risky infidelity.

Shanghai Triad is an excellent gangster movie, but it is more akin to Neil Jordan’s simmering Mona Lisa than Johnnie To’s ultra-cool Hong Kong epics. It was produced at a difficult time for Zhang. His personal relationship with lead actress Gong Li was coming to an awkwardly bitter end and the CCP authorities had barred him from leaving the country (still angry over the realistic depictions of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution in his banned masterpiece, To Live). Yet, in some ways the resulting behind-the-scenes dynamics were perfect for Triad, such as the palpable sense of uneasy limbo during the island-bound scenes.

As for Gong, she truly takes no prisoners. She is a diva with verbal claws that draw blood. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford would be impressed. So will any movie lover. If maybe some of her frustrations with Zhang seeped into her scenes with Boss Tang, it only helped the film. Forget about over-hyped, over-acting stars like Streep. Film for film, Gong was probably the best thesp of the 1990s.

Mob Town: Edgar Croswell Crashes the Mafia’s Party

In the time between Eliot Ness and Rudy Giuliani (before he lost his mind), Edgar D. Croswell was the great American gang-buster of his era. Although he later served on New York State Organized Crime Task Force, he worked the biggest case of his career as a New York State Trooper. In 1957, the mob threw a party in upstate Apalachin, NY (not Appalachia) and Croswell was determined to give them the reception they deserved. The dedicated lawman crashes the infamous Apalachin Mafia summit meeting in Danny A. Abeckaser’s Mob Town, which opens this Friday in New York.

Being a heads-up lawman, Croswell smelled a rat when he pulled over an associate of local bottling magnate and reputed mobster Joe Barbara, driving without a license. However, a judge in the mob’s pocket kicked him loose and Croswell’s boss was content to be rid of him. Of course, the whole sordid episode stirred Croswell righteous indignation and focused his suspicions on Barbara. A year later, Croswell’s on-and-off surveillance paid off when he observed Barbara buying suspiciously large quantities of meat, fish, and booze.

Having just solidified his position as boss of New York, New York (by whacking the interlopers), Vito Genovese wants to take a leadership position among his peers, so decided to call a summit someplace way off the beaten path. Barbara’s Apalachin home fit the bill perfectly. However, the mid-level mobster is about as subtle as a Joe Pesci character hopped up on Red Bull and amphetamines, so his manic preparations inevitable attract Croswell’s attention.

The real-life story of Croswell and the Apalachin meeting (which really did happen pretty much the way Jon Carlo & Joe Gilford’s screenplay depicts) is absolutely fascinating. However, as a work of cinema, Mob Town is a low-impact, overly safe endeavor. There is never much tension to speak of, but there is way too much slack, especially in the sluggish first act. Still, Abeckaser and his design team manage to give the film a strikingly stylish retro-period look and vibe. In terms of the cars, costumes, trappings, and settings, they over-achieve working within their indie budget constraints.

It is hard to say whether Abeckaser the supporting actor (who had a small part in The Irishman) is his own best ally or worst enemy, but you have to give him props for the energy and commitment of his over-the-top fuggedaboutit performance as Barbara. He also has some spirited chemistry with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, playing Barbara’s knowing and complicit wife, Josephine. Similarly, the great Robert Davi chews the scenery with relish as Genovese.

Trivisa on Shudder

It is 1997, the year Mainland China and the United Kingdom agreed to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, establishing a separate system of governance for Hong Kong for the next fifty years. Today, both nations are trying to forget 1997 ever happened. As the handover loomed, three notorious real-life gangsters assumed the new regime would crack down on their business. Little did they know the CCP would appoint an HK Chief of Police who was a reputed Triad associate—allegedly—[cough]. Given the mounting uncertainty, they hope to complete one big score—perhaps even together in Frank Hui, Jevons Au & Vicky Wong’s Trivisa, co-produced by the legendary Johnnie To, which premieres today on Shudder.

In 1997, the so-called “The Kings of Thieves” are all at a career crossroads. Kwai Ching-hung has survived as an armed bandit, despite the bloody opening shootout, because he generally focuses on smaller, manageable targets. However, that means he does not have much of a nest egg to fall back on.

In contrast, Yip Kwok-foon has pulled off some spectacularly lucrative jobs, but the resulting heat forced him to retire to the Mainland, where he runs a consumer electronics smuggling operation. It is a profitable business, but he must constantly bribe the Mainland cops, who go out of their way to belittle him.

Cheuk Tze-keung is still pulling off jobs in Hong Kong, but his boredom and arrogance are causing him to be increasingly reckless. Of the “Three Kings,” he is the most interested in the rumor they will be joining forces for an end-of-an-era gig, which did not originate with any of the trio in question. In fact, he starts offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of his other two colleagues, but he is scrupulously careful vetting tips, to keep the cops in the dark.

The Sanskrit title Trivisa is a bit too obscure, but do not let that dissuade you from this jolly dark and ironic gangster thriller. It is a reference to the “three poisons:” greed, anger, and delusion. Consider it the “Three Deadly Sins” instead. Indeed, this film really is about threes, because the trio of co-directors, Hui, Au, and Wong each focused on their own focal character: Kwai, Yip, and Chuek, respectively. Yet, even with the three directors working with their own cinematographers, the film feels very much like a consistent whole.

NYAFF ’18: Gatao 2

Back in the day, it meant boss or community leader, or so the president of the North Fort crime syndicate tells it. Those days are gone. Now “Gatao” means gangster and the thugs from the upstart Jian Company intend to live up to everything the word entails in Yen Cheng-kuo’s Gatao 2 (trailer here), which screens during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.

As the operational leader of the North Fort syndicate, Ren would very much like to take over the turf of the North Town gang, but President Gui insists they must honor the agreement he made with North Town’s late president. Jian Lui, Ren’s sworn brother from their school days is under no such constraints. Suddenly in the gangster business, he moves quickly to consolidate the Taipei narcotics trade.

Ostensibly, he offers to cut North Fort in on the action, but he knows neither Ren or Gui wish to be involved in the dirty business. Shrewdly, he acts like the offended party, as he moves to undercut North Fort’s support. Gui even insists on restraint when the Jian outfit kills one of Ren’s men. The loyal Gatao tries to toe the line, but it is not long before gang wars erupt on the streets of Taipei.

We’re talking about those crazy street fights, where they hang out the baseball bats and machetes and then just charge at each other. There is in fact plenty of action in Gatao 2, but there is also a clash of codes and strategies. Whatever it is that you like in gangster movies you can find here. Fans should also rest assured, no prior knowledge of Gatao 1 is required to enjoy the self-contained sequel. However, it is worth noting 1 featured former child star Yen Cheng-kuo (who appeared in The Sandwich Man), while he helmed 2. His involvement with the Gatao duology happened after he served ten years in prison for a kidnapping-extortion conviction. So yeah, maybe he can relate to the subject matter. Regardless, he can stage a heck of a street brawl.

Gatao 2 is the sort of grand gangster im/morality tale we haven’t had for a while. Jack Kao (one of the few holdovers from the previous film) sets the tone from the top as the stubbornly principled President Gui. Collin Chou (from The Matrix and The Four franchises) is spectacularly villainous as the snappy dressing Jian. Chang Zhang-xing memorably stirs the pot even further as Ren’s troubled soldier, Po, but it is Wang Shih-hsien who really anchors the film as the flinty Ren, who temperamentally stands equidistance between the fiery Jian and the reserved Gui. Wang also plays it understated, but you can always see the gangster in him.

For regular patrons of NYAFF, Gatao 2 should be a no-brainer. It has veteran Taiwanese screen actors, large-scale beatdowns, shadowy conspiracies, and multiple betrayals. In other words, it is a lot of good clean fun. Very highly recommended, Gatao 2 screens on the Fourth of July at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

Open Roads ’18: Boys Cry

It is pretty depressing when getting initiated into an organized crime clan is the highest ambition two meatheads can aspire to. Unfortunately, it is all too attainable. The only price is whatever might be left of their souls. There will be money and hedonistic pleasures in the short term, but don’t count on much of a long run for Mirko and Manolo in the D’Innocenzo Brothers’ Boys Cry (trailer here), which screens during Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2018.

Even though they are enrolled in some kind of community college hotel-restaurant management program, Mirko and Manolo are not very serious about it. Their corner of Rome’s suburbs does not encourage optimism or long-term planning. They demonstrate why well enough on their own when they kill a stealthy pedestrian in a hit-and-run. Initially, they are panicked about potential repercussions, until Manolo’s wannabe-gangster father realizes this is a good thing.

It turns out their victim was a snitch wanted by one of the local clans. Manolo’s father brokers his son’s apprenticeship with the clan, claiming he deliberately mowed the so-called “grass” down. Suddenly, Mirko is bent out of shape hearing Manolo taking credit for his negligent homicide. However, his friend quickly brings him into the fold, recruiting him to assist on what will be their first official hit.

You can guess the general trajectory of their grubby lives from there, but it is especially harrowing to watch Mirko seeming lose all remaining vestiges of human decency. He will drive away his girlfriend Ambra (who was frankly out of his league) and his ailing mother. This is a gritty, grimy film, but its takeaway comes through loud and clear: even when there is substantial monetary renumeration, crime still doesn’t pay.

It is a grim milieu, but Matteo Olivetti lights up the screen with his hostile intensity and barely contained energy. As Mirko, he steals the picture outright from Andrea Carpenzano’s more snide and reserved Manolo. Olivetti also has the benefit of playing scenes opposite Milena Mancini, who is quite a supportive co-star, while still being exquisitely tragic as his mother Alessia. It would be interesting to see them play mother and son again, but in a completely different context.

This is a riveting movie, in a horrifying train-wreck kind of way. Shallow, kneejerk critics will probably be put off by the misogynistic and homophobic attitudes expressed by the two gangsters-in-training, but they are thugs. Everything they say and do is awful, almost by definition. The D’Innocenzos (Damiano & Fabio) water nothing down. This sure isn’t Bugsy Malone, but Mirko and Manolo really aren’t a heck of a lot older than that. Recommended for fans of the new wave of naturalistic gangster films (like Gomorrah and Salvo), Boys Cry screens Sunday (6/3) and Tuesday (6/5) at the Walter Reade as part of this year’s Open Roads.

Underworld: Toro

According to in-film news reports, tourism in Andalusia is at an all-time high, but so are unemployment claims. How very Spain. Romano the mob kingpin can relate to both stories. Business is way down at the restaurants he controls, because his former protégé Toro is steering tourists away from the restaurants he controls during his work-release as a cab driver. Toro’s brother López is still part of Romano’s syndicate, but he has been skimming more than a few paella customers. When López’s luck runs out, his brother will reluctantly risk his early parole to help him in Kike Maíllo’s Toro (trailer here), which screens during the AFI Silver Theatre’s Underworld retrospective of crime films from around the world.

There was something fishy about the night Toro was busted and his partner was shot dead by the cops. López was also with them, but he walked away clean. Five years later, Toro has turned his back on crime, driving tourists (away from Romano’s establishments) and seriously dating an understanding school teacher, until the midnight hour.

As usual, López messes up everything. Toro probably would not have gotten involved had Romano not abducted his niece, Diana. He hardly knows her, but he knows she is a good kid. What begins as a rescue mission evolves into an exercise in payback when Toro learns that bullet from five years ago was really meant for him. He is so well acquainted with Romano (and vice versa), his vendetta will inevitably get very ugly.

The fundamental structure of screenwriters Rafael Cobos & Fernando Navarro’s narrative is in keeping with long-established gangster movie conventions, but it gets vicious on a personal level in ways Hollywood would not be comfortable with. However, if you can handle a spot of violence, it sure is slick and pacey. Toro might not do much for tourism, but Maíllo capitalizes on the region’s distinctive modernist architecture, particularly the long, circular internal and external staircases that seem to be a hallmark of Andalusian Brutalism.

As Toro, Mario Casas is a bit vanilla in the first act, but he seethes like a champ when his character gets riled up. Even diehard fans of Spanish cinema have probably never seen Luis Tosar as sleazy as he is playing López. Teenage Claudia Canal shows future movie star potential as the tomboyish Diana, while the veteran thesp José Sacristán chews the scenery like he owns it as the despicable Romano.

Next time you are in Andalusia, you might wonder about the power struggles that put the shrimp on your plate. Don’t let that stop you, because its surely delicious. This film also has a fair amount of spice to it too (yet, the very best films in the Underworld series hail from Asia, such as A Hard Day, I am not Madame Bovary, The Handmaiden, and Black Coal, Thin Ice). Recommended for fans of gangster revenge thrillers, Toro screens this Tuesday (8/8) at the AFI Silver Theatre, just south of the Beltway.

Contemporary Philippine Cinema at MoMA: Clash

So, you think Donnie Trump is an authoritarian? Well then, what do you make of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte? This would be the former Davao City mayor who made of practice of reading lists of alleged criminals over the radio, many of whom were subsequently murdered by extralegal death squads. To be fair, the alleged vigilante killings predated the anti-American demagogue’s term as mayor, as did this searing dramatic expose. Timelier than ever, Pepe Diokno’s Clash (trailer here) screens during MoMA’s ongoing film series, A New Golden Age: Contemporary Philippine Cinema.

Richard is the older teen brother who wants out of the gangster life. Raymond is his younger teen brother, who wants in. Frankly, Richard may have waited too long. His gang has been decimated by their rivals and the death squad has publicly targeted him. The plan is to catch a boat to Manila with his prostitute girlfriend Jenny-Jane. However, he will have to raise 1,000 pesos for their fare. He would also like to set Raymond back on the straight-and-narrow before leaving, but his brother has already fallen under the sway of his nemesis, Tomas. All the while, Mayor Danilo Dularte Suarez’s blustery propaganda speeches blare out from every radio, like a veritable Big Brother.

Barely reaching the one-hour mark (including every last closing credit), Clash should still be considered a fully developed feature. Arguably, Diokno combines the social conscience of Brillante Mendoza with the snarling grit of Erik Matti’s noirs (such as On the Job, also included in MoMA’s series). Restless in the extreme, Diokno’s disorienting handheld hops from person to person like Linklater’s Slacker, but in need of a tetanus shot and some serious deodorant. Sometimes the shaky-cam is just too much, but the sense of urgency is always palpable.

This is a violent, predatory world, where anything could happen to anyone at any time, especially someone like Richard, who arguably has it coming. The conflict between brothers takes on almost Biblical symbolism, but they are based on real life siblings Diokno met while conducting research. Indeed, Clash is the sort of film where there does not seem to be any acting going on. Yet, that is rather a tribute to Felix Roco and Daniel Medrana, who are utterly convincing as Richard and Raymond, respectively. Eda Nolan similarly gives a brave yet completely natural and unaffected performance as Jenny-Jane.

We sort of know where Clash is headed, but not quite. There is an inescapable logic to the finale, but it still will turn your guts to ice. This is a powerful, pungent film that expresses Diokno’s rage at the dysfunctional political and legal systems that have continued unchecked since the film’s initial release in 2009. In fact, they have produced the nation’s president. Intense and unforgiving, Clash screens with the prison documentary Bunso this Thursday (6/8) and Friday the 23^rd, as part of MoMA’s Philippine film series.

Contemporary Philippine Cinema at MoMA: Expressway

If you thought it was Grinchy when terrorists took over Nakatomi Plaza during the annual holiday party in Die Hard, wait till you see how these two hitman spend their yuletide. It will be a sweaty, noir Christmas in Ato Bautista’s Expressway (trailer here), which screens during MoMA’s new film series, A New Golden Age: Contemporary Philippine Cinema.

In the murky twilight world Ben and Morris inhabit, it is difficult to tell the difference between the government and organized crime. They are assassins who work for the “Colonel,” rubbing out honest cops and especially dishonest crooks, who think they can get away with skimming a little off the top. The world-weary Ben is sick of this line of work, but the young, sadistic Morris quite enjoys it. The former intends to retire after completing their latest batch of jobs, but these assignments will be particularly messy, in a soul-killing kind of way.

The fact that the aggressively talkative Morris never shuts up further sets Ben on edge, but that is rather the idea. As they pursue their bloody business, it becomes clear the two men share a secret connection. Ben also happens to know their final target, so small world, isn’t it?

Hardboiled crime just doesn’t get much darker than Expressway. It is a lethally efficient hitman anti-buddy movie that proudly proclaims its Tarantino influences with a visual hat-tip that should have fans howling in their seats, like a pack of wild dingoes. However, sensitive viewers should be warned the third act is amorally mean even by genre standards.

Regardless, Alvin Anson and Aljur Abrenica give tour de force performances as the stylistic opposites. Anson’s brooding Ben looks like a walking existential crisis, whereas Abrenica’s Morris is so aggressively obnoxious (intentionally so), viewers will be begging Ben to kill him after the first twenty minutes. Sparks fly as they play off each other.

Bautista’s execution is super slick and ominously warped. He keeps every second taut to the breaking point. If you enjoy shadowy underworld thrillers rife with revenge and betrayal than this is your catnip. Highly recommended for genre fans, Expressway screens this Friday (6/2) and Wednesday the 21^st at MoMA, as part of their upcoming Philippine film series.

ADIFF ’16: Gang of the French Caribbean

In the 1970s, there was a demand for postal money orders. That meant post offices often carried considerable sums of cash on-hand, yet they did not have the same level of armed protection common to banks. Being a symbol of the French government made them even more desirable targets for the disillusioned Jimmy Larivière and his gang. For a while they live high and feel empowered, but internal divisions and external pressures will inevitably lead to bloodshed in Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny’s Gang of the French Caribbean (trailer here), which screens as the centerpiece of the 2016 African Diaspora International Film Festival in New York.

Like many colonial immigrants from the French Antilles, Larivière feels like the victim of a bait-and-switch, falsely promised serious job-training by the Bureau for the Development of Migration in the Overseas Departments, but only offered menial employment on arrival. Unlike many disillusioned French Caribbean migrants, Larivière channels his frustration, falling in with a team of armed robbers led by the aptly named Politik.

Politik talks a good radical game and he has connections to radical separatist organizations back in the French Antilles. Unfortunately, he is also loyal to a fault with respects to the gang’s weakest link: Molokoy, a heroin addict would-be pimp deeply in debt to Algerian white slavers. Molokoy’s erratic behavior, simmering resentment, and cowardly violence make him a ticking time-bomb. Larivière also has his own long-term problems, including Nicole, a progressive former resident of Martinique, who recognized him during his first hold-up.

Gang follows a familiar gangster rise-and-fall trajectory, but the 1970s period details are spot-on. Indeed, it captures all the chaos and confusion of the era with a good deal of subtlety. Larivière’s semi-protective relationship with Molokoy’s Algerian prostitute and the French Algerian military veteran (played by Mathieu Kassovitz), who in turn protects him from the Algerian gangsters seeking to reclaim her are particularly intriguing. Of course, there is plenty of anti-colonial messaging, but Flamand-Barny wraps those bitter pills in easy to digest action.

As Larivière, Djedje Apali broods like nobody’s business, while Adama Niane just radiates bad vibes as Molokoy. Eriq Ebouaney also sets off plenty of alarm bells as the slick and vaguely sinister Politik. Whenever those three circle each other, we expect fireworks to follow shortly. Kassovitz makes the most of his all too brief experience as the shotgun-wielding café proprietor Romane Bohringer brings dignity and dimension to Nicole, one of the few female characters who is not largely stereotyped.

Although Gang is just ninety easily-manageable minutes, it feels pretty epic. Fittingly, Larivière and company namecheck the self-styled revolutionary gangster Jacques Mesrine, because the film would make an apt triple-feature with the Vincent Cassel Mesrine duology. Recommended for fans of historical gangster films, Gang of the French Caribbean has its red carpet gala screening this Saturday (12/3) during the 2016 ADIFF.

Ithaca Fantastik ’16: Kammatti Paadam

It is like Jake Gittes’ Chinatown or the Korean thriller Gangnam Blues, but with “untouchables.” There will be big money to be made in Ernakulam real estate, particularly if the developers can scoop up tomorrow’s prized tracts today. Evicting the current landholders should be easy, particularly when they are marginalized Dalits. That is where Balan Chettan’s gang comes in. However, when the muscle develops a conscious it leads to a bad end for nearly everyone in Rajeev Ravi’s three-hour Malayalam crime drama, Kammatti Paadam (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Ithaca Fantastik film festival.

Mumbai security guard Krishnan thought he had put his criminal days behind him, until he gets a call from his old running mate Ganga. When a subsequent call is terminated under suspicious circumstances, Krishnan returns to the title village in rural Kochi to investigate. Given the D.O.A.-style in media res structure, it is safe to say Krishnan will eventually get stabbed in the gut for his troubles. However, Krishnan will be harder to kill than Edmond O’Brien.

As Krishnan clings to consciousness on a slow bus from Kochi to Mumbai (at least he’s not going to New Delhi), we watch flashbacks of his childhood and early gangster years. Despite his caste, he was always attracted to Ganga’s Dalit cousin Anita and in awe of his older brother, the local gang leader, Balan Chettan. Like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, Chettan could be laughing and scratching one minute and then carving up body parts the next.

Frankly, Chettan takes more of a shine to Krishnan, especially when the high caste thug does a stretch of prison time for Ganga’s sake. Ater his release, he quickly shows an aptitude for their new booze-running business. Yet, Ganga still assumes Anita will be his rather than Krishnan’s for reasons of caste and family.

As one might expect of a juicy Indian gangster movie, the one hundred seventy-seven-minutes of KP zing along at a gallop. Frankly, the film could have been a bit longer, allowing more time to establish the complicated web of relationships. There will be moments when viewers realize: “oh, so that’s so-and-so’s uncle.”

One thing is clear from the start, Vinyakan is all kinds of badass as Chettan. It is a massively physically performance, convincingly portraying spectacular beatdowns and decades’ worth of aging, but it is also a tragic turn that roots Chettan’s eventual downfall in his profound insecurities. Likewise, Dulquer Salmaan (DQ) looks like two distinct actors, one being Kochi Krishnan and the other the Mumbai Krishnan.

Ravi keeps the pace pacey, while instilling a vivid sense of place. You can feel the grit and mud under your feet while watching the film. It rather figures he would have an affinity for the genre, since he served as cinematographer on Anurag Kashyap’s Hindi gangster epics Bombay Velvet and The Gangs of Wasseypur. He delivers the goods and stays true to the realities of the region and its people. Highly recommended for fans of South Asian cinema, Kammatti Paadam screens this Friday (11/11) as part of this year’s Ithaca Fantastik.

VEFFNY ’16: Los 8-6

One of the drawbacks to leading a neighborhood gang is that everyone knows who you are. That was especially true of El Chino, whose titular outfit ran the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas in the mid-1980s. Everybody knew him and usually had a good idea where to find him, including his girlfriend’s cousin, who was a top lieutenant in a rival gang. The new police death squad will also have a good idea of his whereabouts in Francisco Javier Mujica’s Los 8-6, which screens during the 2016 Venezuelan Film Festival in New York.

El Chino is one bad cast. Yesenia’s cousin Morocho also thinks he is pretty tough, but he is not in the same league. That is why she frequently beseeches El Chino not to kill the dumb kid, but that is not the sort of guarantee he is inclined to grant, especially not now.

After consolidating their hold on Cotiza, the 8-6 suddenly find themselves fighting a two-front war against Morocho’s gang and the newly formed special off-the-books police commando squad. This is probably not the best time to take down a big score, but El Chino does so anyway. That just adds a big bag of destabilizing cash into to the equation.

With no disrespect intended towards Mujica, Los 8-6 illustrates what colleagues have said about creative writing programs they have run in prisons. Every inmate writes the same story about a drug deal gone bad, but some of those stories are still really darned compelling. Mujica’s story is respectably middling.

Frankly, the most distinctive part of the film is El Chino’s dysfunctionally fiery relationship with Yesenia. It seems like they are always fighting, yet we can also feel the constant underlying heat. Logically, Ernesto Ceballos and Martha Tarazona are the standouts as Chino and Yesenia. To be fair, the entire cast is completely professional and thoroughly believable. They are simply not playing strongly defined characters.

We have definitely seen this sort of thing before, usually executed with a more colorful cast of characters. We can admire Mujica’s gritty integrity, but Los 8-6 still very much feels like a shopworn story, like the retold tale of the drug deal gone bad. Still, its workmanlike quality makes it watchable. Genre fans who want to support the festival have surely seen worse gangster films. It just isn’t special in any noteworthy way. Kind of an “eh,” Los 8-6 screens this Thursday (9/15), at the Village East, as part of this year’s VEFFNY.

The Brooklyn Banker: When Williamsburg Behaved

In 1973, Williamsburg, Brooklyn was still a livable neighborhood, because the local syndicate’s godfather made a point of keeping out all the knit-cap-wearing, Bernie Sanders-voting, vegan riff-raff. Manny “the Hand” Mistera, where are you now? Sensing trouble that fateful summer, the gangster tries to recruit a legit banker with a savant-like talent for memorizing numbers. Santo Bastucci wants no part of the crooked life, but how can he turn down one of those offers in Federico Castelluccio’s The Brooklyn Banker (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Bastucci inherited his gift for numbers from his father, but he really knows very little about his late old man (so we know what that means). He understands full well his father-in-law is a made man, but Benny seems like the amiable go-along-to-get-along sort. Bastucci never wanted that life and his uncle, the good Father Matteo was always around to keep him on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, dumb old Benny gives Bastucci major indigestion when he involves the banker in a scheme to cash potentially fraudulent cashier’s checks supplied by a bookie in hock to Manny the Hand. However, old Benny might not be as dumb as he looks. In fact, he is clearly running some sort of scam, which puts the son-in-law in a devilishly awkward position.

Banker is a surprisingly well produced period piece. It really has the look and texture of the decade’s classic gangster dramas. Unfortunately, the narrative and characters just aren’t special enough. Frankly, it all feels rather workaday.

True, Paul Sorvino’s Benny has that mischievous twinkle in his eye, but how many similar characters has he played over the course of his career? On opposite sides of the spectrum, David Proval (Mean Streets and The Sopranos) and Arthur J. Nascarella (World Trade Center and also The Soprano) both bring a lot of grit and steely dignity to the film as Manny the Hand and Father Matteo, respectively. Veteran television character actor John Bedford Lloyd also steals most of his scenes as Bostonian Secret Service Agent Cahil. Unfortunately, Troy Garity underwhelms in the lead. Understatement is one thing, cold, clamminess is something else entirely.

Castelluccio (yet another alumnus of the Sopranos) vividly transports viewers back to the Dog Day Afternoon-Bronx is Burning New York that few of us ever really knew. Yet, it is frustrating the film never rises above the level of okay. For diehard fans of gangster films and old school New York, The Brooklyn Banker opens this Friday (8/5) in the City at the Cinema Village and on the Island at the Malverne Cinema.

Beeba Boys: Deepa Mehta Goes Gangster

Jeet Johar combines the worst of the old traditional ways and jaded modern sensibilities. He still lives with his parents, but he is not shy about unambiguously calling out his rivals in television interviews. Most women would avoid long-term entanglements with him, but Canadian Katya Drobot was never accused of being a deep thinker. Regardless, she will be the least of his problems in Deepa Mehta’s Beeba Boys (trailer here), which releases today on DVD in Canada.

The Beeba Boys are good like fellas and pretty like that Boy Floyd. They are Vancouver’s nattiest South Asian gang and their leader Johar has become a role model to innumerable bullied Sikh youngsters. He has plenty of enemies, but old school “local businessman” Robbie Greywal is the most dangerous.

Unbeknownst to Johar, Greywal has placed a traitor in his midst. However, as Nep befriends his fellow Beeba Boys as well as Johar’s grade school son, he starts to have ninth and tenth thoughts about his loyalties. Fortunately, Greywal had the foresight to let his attractive daughter Choti handle their undercover mole. It is pretty clear Nep is interested in her. He and “Manny the Joker” also befriend Johar lonely new wife, Drobot, but that is a pretty platonic relationship. Emotionally, Drobot might be in a state of arrested development, but she is not suicidal. Of course, there is no need for anyone in Johar’s orbit to kill themselves. There will be plenty of gangsters and hitman out to do the job for them.

Who knew Deepa Mehta had such a slickly violent gangster beatdown in her? Granted, none of the elements here are jaw-droppingly new, aside from its Sikh cultural identity, but she marshals them with the spiffy style of a Michael Mann film. Even if the broad strokes of their carouse-and-fall story are familiar, she puts everyone through their paces and makes sure they always look good.

Without question, Mehta’s ace card is Indian movie star Randeep Hooda, whom you might recall from Sunny Leone’s Bollywood debut (hmm, what was that called again?). As Johar, he snarls quite charismatically. His Cheshire Cat smile and so-deep-it-is-almost-demonic voice are enormously gangster-cinema-friendly. Frankly, a good two-thirds of the Beeba Boys are basically incredibly well-dressed extras, but jewelry designer and Wes Anderson repertory player Waris Ahluwalia makes the most of his Tarantino-esque dialogue as Manny.

Probably the most important thing about Beeba Boys is that everyone really looks fab. That is not a bad thing—shallow perhaps, but still a lot of fun. Recommended for fans of gangsters movies and Bollywood crime dramas (sorry, no musical numbers here), Beeba Boys releases today (1/12) on Canadian DVD, and surely some sort of American distribution will soon follow.

Mr. Six: Feng Xiaogang Delivers One of the Year’s Best Performances

Zhang Xuejun, a.k.a. Mr. Six is the sort of old timer who is always around to deliver a lecture on manners. However, this semi-retired gangster can back up his words. Mr. Six always lived by a code, but to the younger, nihilistic generation of thugs consider that a weakness. Still, he has character and that counts for a lot in Guan Hu’s Mr. Six (trailer here), which opens this Christmas Eve in New York.

Mr. Six is a stabilizing, protective figure in his working class Beijing hutong neighborhood, but he gets along better with his not-so-talkative songbird than his son Bobby. Mr. Six has not heard from the twentynothing since he moved out several months ago. He assumed the kid was just sulking as usual, until he finally starts asking round. It turns out Bobby was kidnapped by the punky nouveau riche leader of a street racing gang as part of a dispute over a girl and a scratched up Ferrari. Mr. Six understands Kris can act with impunity as the son of a corrupt government official, so he arranges to pay Bobby’s debt/ransom. Of course, complications continue to snowball.

Feng Xiaogang is one of China’s most commercially successful directors, who has occasionally turned up in front of the camera for relatively small roles. However, those brief appearances will not prepare fans for the heavy soulfulness of his performance as the title character. He hardly needs to speak a word (even though he delivers some stone cold dialogue with earthy flair)—the aching dignity and regret just radiates out of him. Thanks to his flinty presence and Guan’s reserved approach, Mr. Six might just be the definitive aging gangster.

He is also surrounded by a top-notch ensemble, starting with the kind of awesome Zhang Hanyu as Mr. Six’s slightly younger, hardnosed crony, Scrapper. He is probably worthy of his own film. Kris Wu also defies all expectations, bringing elements of humanity in his initially reckless and entitled namesake. Ironically, Li Yifeng hits a more consistent, less nuanced note as the resentful Bobby. Still, his shortcomings are redeemed by Xu Qing’s heartfelt but intelligent performance as Mr. Six’s patient lover, Chatterbox.

Mr. Six is a tremendous film that levels a potent critique of China’s contemporary social attitudes and government corruption. Thematically, it might sound a lot like Takeshi Kitano’s Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen, but it is much closer in tone to the Michael Caine vehicle Harry Brown. Feng displays none of the bombast he unleashed in films like Assembly and Aftershock, giving a gritty, utterly real, street level performance. Even though it is not exactly inspirational, per se, Mr. Six is a great film to end the cinematic year with. Very highly recommended, Mr. Six opens this Thursday (12/24) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

For the Emperor: Closer Turned Gangster

Lee Hwan will confirm all your suspicions about closers who choke in the ninth inning. He really was taking payoffs from gamblers. Once the scandal broke, the only work he can find is with the loan-sharking gangsters whom his accomplice owed big time. It turns out the kid can throw a punch as well as he can hurl a baseball (he never really had any control problems, mind you). However, when the outfit known as Emperor Capital expands into waterfront real estate, the double-crosses start coming like Mariano fastball-cutters in Park Sang-jun’s For the Emperor (trailer here), which releases today on BluRay, DVD, and digital platforms from Well Go USA.

Lee Hwan happened to be picking up his take from his latest blown save in a seedy gambling den right when the cops raided it. Although he was let off with a wrist-slapping, he reputation is shot. He also forfeited a large bag of illicit cash. To pay off a debt he inherited from his front-man, Lee Hwan collects from a hard-headed has-been gangster for Jung Sang-ha, Emperor Capital’s CEO. As we know from the fantastically violent prologue, Lee Hwan has a knack for this kind of work.

A one-off quickly turns into a full time gig for Lee Hwan, with his tenacious street-fighting chops and knowledge of sports betting propelling him up the ladder. Soon, he secretly takes up with Madame Cha, the hostess of the Emperor’s private club, who is up to her eye-lashes in debt to the group. Jung is not exactly thrilled with their relationship and his lieutenants are even less enthusiastic about all the slack he cuts Lee Hwan. However, the former jock is in over his head trying to navigate the schemes Jung and Han-deuk, the sinister chairman are hatching between them.

There is also a whole lot of knife fighting. We are talking mega-gritty, super-bloody street brawling and some of the best tenement hallway melee since the original The Raid. For action fans, these extended sequences are like watching ballet, but for the squeamish, they could cause blackouts and short-term memory loss.

Lee Min-ki (who finished work on Emperor six months before commencing his mandatory military service) brings an erratic, slightly unstable sensibility to Lee Hwan that works well in context. He also generates some heat with the otherwise ice cold Lee Tae-im in sex scenes that are unusually steamy for mainstream Korean cinema. However, character actor Park Sung-woong (Tabloid Truth, Man on High Heels, etc.) just towers over the film as the smooth but ruthless Jung.

Granted, For the Emperor does not have the sweep of Nameless Gangster or New World, but it has hundreds of thugs getting hacked and slashed. The character of Jung also offers a few interesting wrinkles to distinguish him from the pack. Regardless, the action is most definitely the reason to see Emperor. Recommended for genre fans with all due meathead approval, For the Emperor is now available for home viewing from Well Go USA.

BHFFNYC ’15: Racket

You can tell what preoccupies a nation’s subconscious from the villains and nightmares that appear in its films. As one would expect, the Balkan War, the Siege of Sarajevo, and the frustrated attempts to prosecute war criminals have loomed large in many, many previous Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival selections. However, this year’s slate suggests something of a turning of the corner, including several films addressing concerns New Yorkers understand only too well. That would be gangland shakedowns and public corruption in the case of Admir Buljugić’s crime drama—two New York traditions if ever there were any. Representing an intriguing change of pace in several respects, Buljugić’s Racket (trailer here) screens during the fondly anticipated 2015 Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York.

Amil Pašić is a globe-trotting nature photographer, who does not come home to Sarajevo very often. His latest stop-over will be a mere seven days, to be divided amongst his father, his neglected best friend, and his even more neglected on-again-off-again girlfriend. However, his plans go out the window when his father has a heart attack induced by the stress of defying a protection racket.

Of course, Pašić is even more obstinate than his father. When he seeks out Bakir, the extorting gangster, he is not about to come to terms. Instead, he will be serving notice. However, that will not entail unleashing his inner Van Damme. Pašić is hardnosed, but not superhuman.

In fact, the just-rightness of the Pašić character and Adnan Hasković’s lead performance are what really distinguish Racket. He can easily beat up one gangster, but he is probably in serious trouble facing two or three. Striking an intense but not psychotic vibe, Hasković (he killed Jamie Bell in Snowpiercer) makes a compelling everyman action hero.

While admirably scrappy and impressively moody, Buljugić’s screenplay is still undeniably uneven. Frankly, it heads in a legitimately interesting direction, but his third act is rather perfunctory. Given his budget constraints, he might have been under-pressure to wrap things up quickly. Look, this is a rare case where we would argue thriller fans really need to relax and grade on a curve.

The truth is spending time with Pašić and his circle is rather enjoyable. In fact, it would be rather nice to see subsequent Pašić films come to BHFF, but with a few more zigs and zags coming down the stretch. Recommended as a rare Bosnian gangster film and for Hasković’s winning star turn, Racket screens this Saturday (5/23) as part of this year’s Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival, a New York tradition for twelve years and counting.

Bombay Velvet: Jazz and Gangsters, Bollywood Style

At various times, the public sale of alcohol was illegal throughout what was then Bombay State. Of course, for the mobbed-up nightclub managed by Johnny Balraj, Prohibition was good for business. The new vocalist is not bad either, but their inevitable romance gets caught up in an underworld power struggle in Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

Balraj and his sworn-brother Chimman grew up on the streets together, but it is Balraj who has the necessary crazy to go far in gangtserism. Even when he starts fronting the swanky Bombay Velvet club in the early 1960s, he still blows off steam fighting in underground steel cage matches. Technically, it is Balraj’s business but it is really part of the newspaper mogul and syndicate boss Kaizad Khambata’s vast empire. Still, Balraj has a free hand to hire talent like Rose Noronha. She makes quite the impression of him. Unfortunately, she is a plant sent to seduce Balraj by Jimmy Mistry, the ambitious editor of a rival Communist newspaper.

It works. Balraj falls for Noronha hard, but as her star rises, it becomes mutual. Of course, when undesirable elements from her past try to assert themselves, it leads to friction. Frankly, Balraj does not think much of either Khambata or Mistry, but he stays in business with his ostensive boss in hopes of getting a piece of the action. In this case, the pie getting sliced up is the massive real estate fortune to be made from the anticipated development of Bombay/Mumbai’s Nariman Point business district.

In a way, Velvet echoes the infighting gangsters and politicians of Yoo Ha’s real estate-driven Gangnam Blues, but at times viewers can see the not so subtle influence of De Palma’s Scarface. Probably the only thing separating the wildly erratic Belraj from Tony Montana is a small mountain of cocaine. He has the Tommy Gun.

Regardless, Velvet is clearly Kashyap’s most commercial film to date. He is no stranger to underworld intrigue having helmed the gritty epic Gangs of Wasseypur, but he really cranks up the glossy flashiness this time around. Yet, since the film is largely set in a jazz club, he can have his cake and eat too, by confining the ample musical numbers to the Velvet stage. In fact, they work rather well. Amit Trivedi’s tunes, sounding like Bollywood show-stoppers as arranged by Nelson Riddle, should definitely get heads nodding.

Ranbir Kapoor makes Balraj’s unstable lunacy strangely charismatic. You would never want to be anywhere near such a person, but he is consistently fun to watch. Likewise, Karan Johar shamelessly chews on the scenery as the flamboyantly snide and villainous Khambata. Manish Choudhary is also terrifically sleazy as the greedy Red Mistry. Oddly enough given his prominence, Kay Kay Menon gets somewhat shortchanged on screen time, even though his honest Inspector Kulkarni is a potentially intriguing character.

For fans of Wasseypur, it is important to note there is no shortage of dead bodies in Velvet. It has a high polished sheen, and some appealing big band vocals, but it is really about getting down to business. An impressively mounted decade-spanning period production, Bombay Velvet is recommended for fans of the gangster genre and high-end Bollywood when it opens today (5/15) in New York, at the AMC Empire.