'R Xmas

Abel Ferrara hasn’t made a movie that felt like a good time in years. There was the pilot he did for “Crime Story”; that rocked and you rolled with it. Other than that, Ferrara doesn’t do good times. Driller Killer? Bad Lieutenant? King of New York? Hardly cheerful films. Existential wailing with a side order of gnashing teeth. He has a fan club but we’re a small band and that means the budgets just keep getting smaller. His movies have never ceased to be anything less than interesting. Even the patience testing “New Rose Hotel” is interesting.

“’R Xmas” is low budget New York independent. It runs a side line in humour that is so dark you’ll be forgiven for missing it. Lillo Brancato Jr and Drea De Matteo (you know her from the Sopranos) play a husband and wife with a beautiful daughter and an affluent lifestyle. That lifestyle is, however, financed through the sale of heroin.

Topping the daughter’s Christmas wish list is the Party Girl Doll (see, there’s that oblique sense of humour). The Party Girl Doll looks like a cheap crack whore and is the most sought after item in all of Manhattan. Even rich drug lords can’t bribe shop owners to hand over stock. There just isn’t any stock to be had.

Unsurprisingly, the wife has some criminal contacts and she goes off to a dodgy warehouse to pick up a couple of hot dollies. Leaving hubby in the car turns out to be a bad idea because he is kidnapped and ransom demands are made.

This is a tale about Christmas and greed and all that stuff that makes America great. It has depth and artistic vision. Like most of Ferrara’s films, it was barely released here. You may have difficulty turning up a copy but the quest is worthwhile. It is not as brutal as many of Ferrara’s films but it is psychologically bruising. You certainly won’t get to the end of the film and cheer for the general goodness of humanity. However, when the saccharine smiles of your least favourite family members gets too much for you, this will become the perfect film to cure you of Christmas.

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Posted By: Bob Short - Category: No Category

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Comments

3 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

September 15th 2006 00:46

Film & TV on DVD

Im a big Ferrera fan (Bad Lt, King of NY) but found R'Xmas really dragged and juts didnt have that sense of hyper realism he achieves so well when he is on.

Comment by Bob Short

September 16th 2006 02:11

It is all my fault for liking Ferrara. I like him even when his films are as much fun as watching paint dry. I can even watch the Madonna one and not scream "pretentious bullshit" at the screen even though - in my heart of hearts - I know I should. There must be something seriously wrong with me!

Comment by JohnDoe

September 16th 2006 06:12

Film & TV on DVD

Nothing wrong with the Ferrera love man, I feel it to.

Hell I remember loving The Michael mann produced Crime story as a kid and the episodes of Miami Vice he directed always had a dark edge.

I absolutely loved every moment of The Funeral with Benicio Del torro, Christopher walken and Chris Penn etc.

Your on your own with that Madonna film though, even I draw the line somewhere. Love is not always blind.

Which reminds me, I want Crime Story the series on DVD, hope it gets an R4 release soon. That bargain basement version of the pilot is a shocking transfer.

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