Rating: B-
Dir: Jennifer Esposito
Star: Emily Bader, Odessa A’zion, Jennifer Esposito, Domenick Lombardozzi
Can’t fault Esposito’s commitment to this project. She didn’t just write, direct and play a major role in it, she funded it by refinancing her own home. While the results aren’t perfect, it’s certainly better than many feature debuts, especially where one person takes on so much work. Despite occasional rough edges, the passion comes through and makes it possible to forgive some of the flaws. It’s loosely a story about organized crime – just told from the point of view of those not directly involved in it. Specifically, sisters Rose (Bader) and Connie (A’zion) LaRusso, who grow up in a well-off Staten Island family, with mother Francie (Esposito), where the employment of patriarch Joe (Lombardozzi) is only vaguely depicted.
There are enough hints dropped, in mysterious packages and sudden, unexplained absences, for the audience to figure out he’s involved in organized crime. Connie, the more streetwise of sisters, seems to know what’s going on, but it’s just not a topic that gets discussed. Certainly, Rose is oblivious to the source of her family’s wealth, well into her adult life. She harbours dreams of moving off the island, moving to Manhattan, and perhaps getting a job as a guest host on a daytime talk show. However, she lacks the willpower to cut herself loose from a family and community, who have their own plans for Rose, e.g. setting her up with a bakery that’s really a front, and clearly care nothing about her own hopes and ambitions.
It feels almost like a mafiosi version of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, in that Rose and Connie would be minor characters, off to one side, in a traditional mob movie. Here, they’re at its heart, though I found it hard to overcome Rose’s utter ignorance of the family business. She’s clearly not stupid, and the way she has to ask her sibling whether or not their father is an honest man, is faintly ludicrous. But it’s an innocence necessary to the plot, Rose eventually having to come to terms with the truth and figure out what to do with her life. Though it requires tragedy before she will fully be able to accept the reality of her situation.
Given the title, I wasn’t expecting something sitting so firmly in the drama category. There are also times when the budget pokes through, most obviously in a low-cost soundtrack (hence, we get a reference to Madonna, rather than any actual Madonna). However, the acting is good, not least Esposito herself, whose experience here is obvious. Francie, torn between loyalty to her husband and to keeping her daughters safe, is always compelling to watch. There’s an old saying, “Write what you know,” and there is an authenticity to suggest it’s what Esposito did for her debut. Will she be able to expand beyond the topic? Harder to say. But on the basis of this, she deserves a chance to do so, without having to remortgage her house in the process.