TWO FAMILY HOUSE review

Now, unfortunately I’m not going to be able to go up to SUNDANCE this year... Just too much going on in my world right now, but I’m lucky in that... I’ve already seen what will have to be one of the best films that will screen at SUNDANCE this year.

TWO FAMILY HOUSE.

Whaaaaaat?!?!?!

This isn’t a big film, not many at Sundance are.... but.... Remember THE BIG NIGHT? That Tucci film filled with nothing but supporting actors... most of them, faces that you knew instantly, but who’s names you could not conjure for $2 million dollars on GREED? A film that wasn’t about terribly big things... Just about one restaurant and a pair of brothers. That’s it... nothing any more complicated than that.... but it was beautiful.

TWO FAMILY HOUSE is one of those films that you walk away from feeling all the better for having seen it.

What’s it about?

It’s about this guy, Buddy Rispoli (played by The Soprano’s Michael Rispoli) who dreams of at least being his own man. Someone that doesn’t punch another man’s clock, someone that lives because of his own hard work for a job he has created. But... he’s surrounded by friends and family members that live in the self-created jail of nesting. Nesting... you know... It’s that thing you might settle for in life. When you decided that being a doctor would be too hard or that you weren’t good enough to be a screenwriter and ya just settled for a safe job. One that if you just put in your time, you’d earn good money, gather health care, could put the kids through college and you’d be able to someday retire. But you’d always be working somebody else’s dream. Buddy is in that world, where people laugh at him for wanting to sing, to create his own limo service, his own pizza delivery service. He’s the neighborhood dreamer and joke. His wife is happy living at home with the parents... going out with the girls and gossiping (btw the movie takes place in the 1950’s) about this and that. She sees no obstructions to the lifestyle she is happy with, other than Buddy’s stupid dreams. Buddy wants his own house, to open a bar... where he would headline every night. Just a small neighborhood bar.

And that’s the set up for the film. One man with dreams in a world of conformers. The movie magically recreates without forcing it, the feeling of living in the fifties... not through vast matte paintings and extravagant production design... but rather in the manner of the characters.... What’s shocking and unheard of. There are 4 wonderful performances in this film. The first comes from Michael Rispoli as Buddy. He screams pathos and Homer-esque-angst. Then there is Kelly MacDonald. You might remember her as the underage schoolgirl that Ewan bangs in TRAINSPOTTING. In this film, she plays a young lady, who lives in the top floor of Buddy’s future dream home, which at the time of purchase is a dilapidated shambles with tenants up top. Kelly is a vision in this film. Strong yet uneducated. Filled with character and history and screaming to be hugged. I loved her in this film. Then there’s her older drunken husband played by Kevin Conway as an old drunkard with a way too young wife. He’s just a supporting character, but what a small role. A proud degenerate.

And lastly... there’s Katherine Narducci. I do not envy her one tiny bit. Her role is to play a shrew. The sort of unsupportive nagger that you hope you never ever have to stand in line next to at a grocery store much less actually wed. But... the great part... is she plays her as nasty as she needs to be, but... my primary feelings about her character are not of contempt... but of pity. She’s a sad woman with no dreams or wishes or ambitions. She is completely content to have a shallow existence of only screwing during Perry Como’s tv show.

I’ve never seen anything by Raymond DeFelitta before, but this film is... all the way through just a complete and utter delight. Always surprising in it’s honesty and always keeping me right in the story.

If you’re headed to Sundance... Don’t miss this film. And if you’re headed to Sundance to find films to pick up.... This should be one of your first stops. It’s absolutely a delight.