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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.
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I will definitely be keeping me eye open for this one. I love simple films that aren't about anything particularly earth shattering. And the life that this guy seems to be living mirrors mine too much for me to ignore it. And on the subject of simple films and Tucci..."The Imposters". I am about to watch that one again right now out of the sheer thought of it. A fantastic film with a BEAUTIFUL cast! Again, the humble opinion of a lonely soul searching for love in this cruel, cold, dark world. May The Force Be With You...Always!
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Can anyone recommend a good non perscription allergy medicine?
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Can anyone recommend a good non perscription allergy medicine?
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Yes, Harry is all apeshit about his TV show. I don't know about you, but that would
be exciting. BUT, he has been slacking lately, with punkass stories from ex-cons, rehashed bullshit from other sites, etc.
To me, Sundance is a HUGE festival to screen upcoming films. He should be on the scene, as in past years. What, he can't give up a week to go
to the world's second most well known film festival? Please. Harry, your show is going to go
tits up after a couple weeks. Maybe he will be successful as a sort of curiousity to the masses. "Look at that guy, oh my God!" I don't think the Star Trek literati are going to keep him afloat. -
But c'mon Harry..."If you're going to Sundance..." just sounds a little like you're talking over us "little people's" heads here along with your bigger things cookin than spending time at Sundance statements. Geesh Harry have you hung up the phone on anyone yet because you've got "a bigger name on the other line." While this film sounds really neat and I hope to see it someday (I loved the Big Night), your review shows a definite loss of the "charm" that they used to have. It used to be that your biggest issue was transportation to get your bloated (no, I'm not going to finish the Warrior's adjective) self to a theatre. Now you're too busy for Sundance. Oh well, I guess we all have to grow up and move on.
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Hey Harry:
Thanks for the rave, man. We're producers on the film, and if you want to see some pictures from the movie and read more about the actors and director, check out our website at: www.filbertsteps.com and click on the "projects/films" button to get to film.
And if you want to see another fantastic film by Ray DeFelitta, rent his debut film "Cafe Society" -- another 50s film, but about the seedy side of the upper crust in Manhattan, based on a real-life scandal about a playboy who ran a prostitution ring for the New YOrk City swells. Not only can Ray write razor-sharp, crackling dialogue, but he can direct the hell out of a small film and make it look great. "Cafe Society" stars Frank Whaley as the playboy, Lara Flynn Boyle, Peter Gallagher, and a stunning turn from John Spencer (from L.A. Law) as a reptilian press agent.
Thanks again. Sorry you won't be at Sundance, but we're happy you got to see the film. And we're glad the world heard it here first!
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Well done, Harry! I read this script on a lark last year, and that enchantment you're describing leapt off the page. I've been keeping an eye on this film and another Sundance entry, JOE GOULD'S SECRET (written and directed by BIG NIGHT's Stanley Tucci,) that also had a tremendously affecting script. By championing this film early, you are no doubt helping it to draw interest from distributors, which will ensure that we will all be able to see this (hopefully) wonderful work. People can bitch all they want about a lack of scoops on the big budget stuff, but this is what sites like DH and Corona *don't* do. Herein ends my love letter to Harry for the day. I now remove my lips from your glowing white ass.
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THE SOPRANOS kicks ass. Tell me that I'm not the only person on this site who has seen it.
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I'm still waiting to see Tucci's The Big Night. I heard him talking about the film and what it took to get it made and a little about his career on a radio show from Seattle a while back. The more he got excited, the more I wanted to see the movie. When you know there is REAL passion and care put into the movie, it just makes it a little bit (actually, a whole lot) better.***On the subject of this Sundance thing...why not send someone like Lynn Bracken or one of the other AICNers to the festival if you're too busy, Harry? Or you could pay MY way to go...but that would only happen in my dreams, right...
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You're not the only guy on this site who's seen the Sopranos. The Sopranos rule. Peace.
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My favorite quote: "How did you hurt your hand."....."I have no idea."
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Will you have anybody up there, or are you just going to rely on whatever reports trickle in? I'm dying to find out how JOE GOULD'S SECRET turned out.
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What TV show? What I miss?
p.s. to Crouton (one of my favorite words, BTW, after "ingognito"), that was my favorite line in Big Night too! The only funnier part was visual (the lamp). -
One more thing, if anyone's looking for this type of hilarious and moving gem of a film, I highly, HIGHLY recommend Barry Levinson's LIBERTY HEIGHTS (set in 1954 BTW) in theatres right now. It's his fourth film in his Baltimore series (Diner, Tin Men, Avalon) and is my favorite film of the year (and on Harry's list too). The reason nobody but me (and Harry) has heard of it is hinted at on the Barry Levinson website (http://www.levinson.com). There's an interesting little protest over Warner Bros. refusal to promote the film in any way. It's big studio policy like this that ensures a film's failure in this oversaturated and over-hyped marketplace and kills the possibility of more wonderful little movies we all love being made.
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so I'm scooping something. on scifi.ign.com they have pictures of wolverine's costume. (for anyone who cares)
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Have to say that I was very disappointed in BIG NIGHT. Maybe Siskel & Ebert hyped it too much for me. I also think Ian Holm is seriously overrated. It seems that a British accent is like teflon, shielding actors from criticism. Speaking of accents, his Italian one was a joke! ** As for LIBERTY HEIGHTS, it was a nice, little film. Very well done. Just nothing spectacular about it to rank it among the year's best.
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Shrieve, ANYBODY, tell me WHAT was so good about Liberty Heights? That had to be one of the most awful, disappointing movies I've ever seen. Talk about ridiculous! This movie was completely sloppy and trite! From beginning to end the film had absolutely NO focus whatsoever! And talk about stereotypes! Does every Jewish person in existence HAVE to talk like Jackie Mason? And why was Adrien Brody's character SO in love with that blonde tramp? Just because she was good to look at? Gimme a break! I mean I'm supposed to feel bad because this SAP falls for a girl who so OBVIOUSLY is a BITCH? You may say, "But that's the point, that he found out that she was trash at the end!" Uhhh, excuse me, it was pretty obvious she was a loser whe he first met her! And she wasn't even that good looking! And if I'm not mistaken how come the relationship between the black girl and the white kid only rubbed people slightly the wrong way? HELLO! This was the 1950's! So guys will beat the crap out of a Jewish guy at a frat party but if an African-American man catches a white Jewish kid in the closet of her BEDROOM it's just something to ignore. Uuuhm, I may be completely ignorant, but for the time period THAT SHIT WOULD JUST NOT GO DOWN IN EITHER HOUSEHOLD AT ALL! And for a black family in the 50's they seemed to be ling quite the HIGH LIFE! Racial and economic inequality? Apparently that only exists in Levinson's world for the Jews. Black people had ALL the latest gadgets and household goods! Hell, I wish I lived like they did RIGHT NOW! And the drug dealer character? What, was he lifted right out of an 'In Living Color' skit or what? Absolutely ridiculous! Liberty Heights is a REAL low in Levinson's career. I REALLY loathe this new trend in Hollywood where they totally RE-WRITES history to fit THEIR needs. This whole movie reeks of it! Oh, look, the inequality wasn't SO BAD. Look there go all the little black and white children playing together! Apparently the intergration and busing controversy had nothing to do with RACIAL PREJUDICE! Levinson's done some GREAT stuff in the past. Even recently with WAG THE DOG, but he needs to slow down with the producing stuff so that he can get back to focusing on making a coherent film! Maybe the brass at Warner Bros. is actually right for a change and their not marketing it because they know it's CRAP!
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I haven't seen the movie, but Superhero, as I understand it, the film is set during the time and place that LEVINSON GREW UP IN! So, how can you be so sure that your view of that time isn't the inaccurate one? Were you alive then? Did you live in that city? Just curious.
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Oh man, Harry you sold us out. I knew that you would do it man. Oh remember the good old days. You're fat Harry. This site has lost it, sellout. Okay, seeya tomorrow...
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How old are you? It's just that you sound young. Levinson's in his late fifties. His Baltimore movies use autobiographical experience to explore ideas he finds relevant today. The way he captures time and place is actually always unsensationalistic and cliche-defying. Again, I don't know how old you are, but it sounds as if your perception of life in 1954 comes from movie cliches (racist ones at that) rather than experience. Nobody quite captures the details of period everyday life like Barry Levinson (see Avalon, Good Morning Vietnam, Bugsy) and Liberty Heights is no exception. To be fair, I was born in 1971 and did not see the fifties first-hand but Levinson's films always feel right to me and as someone who grew up in a jewish family, he absolutely NAILED that particular speech to the wall. Seeing Avalon and Liberty Heights is like watching a documentary of my family. As to your comment about the directionlessness, you sound like the studio execs when they first saw Diner. A modern classic. They just didn't get it. This is probably posted too late for anyone to read. That's fine. I was just wondering how old you were. By the way, don't get too upset. It's only a movie.
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While I understand that Levinson's movies supposedly are based on his experiences this doe not mean that they are an ACCURATE depiction of the times he lived in. I LOVED DINER and AVALON and WAG THE DOG and even SLEEPERS because these films had a focus of story. Where did Liberty Heights go? Nowhere. It was ALL OVER THE PLACE. The story had no focus! DINER had focus! AVALON had focus! This movie was jumbled compared to his other work. Maybe, I don't know, I had expectations because I like Levinson's work. Both producing and directing. This movie was a huge disappoinment! And how am I basing my views of the characters in this film on stereotypes? The movie is practically full of BADLY ACTED charcters based on bad stereotypes. Gee, sorry if all the Jewish kids and their families that I was friends with didn't talk like Jackie Mason. Sorry if every one of my black friends never dressed in bad pimp gear. I thought that what I wrote was in defiance of stereotyping. I would love to see films where people of different races and creeds were PEOPLE and not cardboard CUTOUTS. And as for my view of history, yes maybe I didn't grow up in the fifties but I do know my stuff. It's called reading and maybe Levinson should do more of it before trying to create the Huxtables in 1950's America. If you liked the movie then fine. I actually value your opinion. If you go to a film and it touches you then, to you, that was a good film and I'm glad you had a good time. I just found this to be a disappointing film through and through. Oh, and by the way, I'm in my late twenties. Peace.
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Guess I'm the only one so far in talkback to have seen this film (TWO FAMILY HOUSE). BTW - Saw Liberty Heights and hated the shit out of it. Anyway, back to TWO FAMILY HOUSE - loved it. Was recently at Sundance and had the opportunity to check it out. Of course, I'd see anything with Kelly MacDonald - she's the cat's pajamas. Loved her in TRAINSPOTTING and Araki's SPLENDOR, and adored her presence in ELIZABETH. She gets a really meaty role in TFH. And she's an effing vision. The rest of the cast give great performances as well (especially Rispoli). It's simply a completely engrossing story. And the characters make tangible, rich journeys. I saw only four films at the festival (TWO FAMILY HOUSE, SIMON MAGUS, PANIC, and URBANIA), but TFH was my second favorite (SIMON MAGUS being the #1). PANIC had a great cast (Bill Macy, Neve Campbell, Tracy Ullman, Donald Sutherland, John Ritter, and amazing six-year-old David Dorfman) which gave good performances, but the plot was tediously predictable. URBANIA was both uneven and evenly bad.
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Sorry to hear you're not gonna make it to Sundance and I seriously doubt that the reason has anything to do with abandoning us for your TV show. Anyway, "Two Family House" sounds like a damn good movie. I really liked "Big Night" and love to go see these smaller movies that just seem like little lost gems at the multiplex. Hopefully "Two Family House" will come to a theatre near me instead of my having to search it out on video. The plot sounds very similar to my own life except I'm more like one of the nesters. I have two dreams for my future and I've let fear keep me from really pursuing either one of them. I'd like to write the great American novel and I'd like to open a movie theatre that shows only old films. Maybe sometime I'll have the guts to damn the torpedoes and plunge ahead and make something out of my ambitions other than just nursing them along as pipe dreams.
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Two Family House is the first film I've seen in a lifetime of filmgoing, beginning with my first at age 5 in 1940, that compelled me to write to the producers to express my heartfelt appreciation for a movie that captures not only its subject, but more importantly, the essence of filmaking's seldom realized potential. This is not a paean from a wistful Staten Islander seeking lost memoriesof the '50s, but from a teen from Minnesota at that time who didn't know Staten Island from Long Island. See it. You'll understand.
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