Multi-talented Joe B. Vasquez only got to direct four films in his 33 years on this Earth, and "Street Story" is his masterpiece. Though released after his most well-known movie, "Hangin' With the Homeboys," this super-low budget film was in fact his first one. It only saw the light of day because of the commercial success of 'Homeboys,' and true film lovers will be happy that it did.
Two brothers, Junior & Joey, living in the South Bronx, are the focus of this family drama. Junior is the neighborhood tough guy and is admired by everyone on the block, but he is essentially going nowhere and he knows it. Tied down to a girl that he doesn't love because he got her pregnant, he is doing the right thing by sticking by her..but he's miserable. He wants his little brother Joey to use his brains, finish school and get out of that dead end neighborhood, but history repeats itself when Joey also gets his girl pregnant, and this begins a struggle of wills between family members, who all have definite opinions about what Joey should do with his life. But when a sudden violent act changes everything, the movie shifts gears and the real intense drama unfolds.
"Street Story" is, simply put..brilliant independent film-making at it's most passionate. Director J. Vasquez manages to tell a story that is operatic in scope and rich with drama, and he does it with almost no budget at all. The look is stark and atmospheric, and everything about it shows the professionalism of a much older and more experienced filmmaker. In fact Vasquez was little more than a kid here, and it is a little-known fact that it is Vasquez himself playing the younger brother Joey. He is using the pseudonym 'Cookie,' but it is him. I recognize him from the also great "Bronx War," though he is much younger in "Street Story." This movie reminded me at times of the early Italian films of Roberto Rossellini and Pier Pasolini. In particular I was reminded of Pasolini's "Accattone," in both filming style and the way he tells this family tale. I wonder if J. Vasquez was influenced by the Italian neorealist movies of the 1950's at all. If not, then he was just born with an immense talent for telling stories through moving pictures. At times poetic, funny and always fascinating, plus the vintage South Bronx location shooting gives this film great value. I wonder in what direction Joe Vasquez would have taken with his movies, if he had lived past the age of 33. His last film, "Manhattan Merengue" didn't work, and it seemed like his desire for success and acceptance in the mainstream film industry was his downfall in the end. He should have stuck to making these urban dramas. That was the world he understood, and it's what he did best.
