Wasted Talent

I wanted to enjoy this but I couldn't sit through it. I found myself losing interest because of the amateurish and poorly edited scenes.

What a mess. This overall story is a mess. A complete mess. I am not here to share my opinion on whether or not he is guilty or not guilty. I would rather review the documentary overall. I thought the story could have been laid out better. It bounces around from A Bronx Tale, to heroin usage, and then recovery. It's all extremely odd the way it flows. And then the documentary is centered around a group of friends, so being former addicts themselves, trying to clear the name of the main subject. I think that's where the documentary goes wrong. It's not enough interesting content about the character to really hold the viewers attention.

Greetings again from the darkness. The first thing to note here is that the title refers to a young actor who scuttled his career through drug addiction - an addiction which ultimately led to a burglary that ended in tragedy and a prison sentence. What the title doesn't refer to is the police officer who was killed by the actor's associate during that attempted burglary. In my opinion, what was wasted was that officer's life, so no matter how talented and charming and rehabilitated one might find Lillo Brancato, my sympathies were with that police officer's family the entire run time ... not a possible squandered Golden Globe.

The goal here is to set aside personal opinion, and evaluate this documentary from director Steve Stanulis on merit. The subject is Lillo Brancato, the young man "discovered" to star alongside Robert De Niro in A BRONX TALE, the 1993 film that was also De Niro's directorial debut. Mr. Stanulis, himself an actor and filmmaker, has a good grasp of the industry and wisely puts Mr. Brancato front and center so he can tell much of his own story. Lillo recalls in great detail the events that led to his being cast in his first movie, and getting to meet Chaz (Palminteri) and "Bob" (De Niro). He was basically plucked off the beach due to his facial similarities to De Niro, and then proceeded to wow the filmmakers with his natural acting ability. He's also very forthcoming about his drug use (a crack pipe in a car), his ongoing commitment to staying clean in the program, and his desire to continue acting.

Other interviews include journalists, Lillo's "super" attorney Joseph Tacopina (a likely documentary subject himself), other actors including Lillo's friend and co-star from "The Sopranos" Drea De Matteo, Lillo's brother, former NBA player Jayson Williams, and even clips from the District Attorney at the time the case was at trial. Director Stanulis also interviews local cops who make it very clear that the police force remain mad at Lillo, and view him as a privileged kid who wasn't held accountable for the death of one of their own. See, Lillo's friend shot Officer Daniel Enchautegui, and Lillo was charged only with the 2005 burglary, while his friend went to prison for murder. So no, the cops don't believe justice was served.

There are some attempts to couch this as a young guy from the neighborhood making it big and not being able to handle fame and money. Once again, it's difficult to muster sympathy for someone in this situation. It does help that Lillo is so direct about staying clean and sober since November 2006, being released from prison in 2013, and resuming his acting in 2015. He also admits to not heeding the advice from either De Niro or James Gandolfini, both who recognized the dangerous path the young man was on. Fortunately for Lillo, his second chance comes at a time when he's still young enough to enjoy. Sadly, there are no second chances for the officer that was killed that day.

The description of this documentary claims it is examining temptations and struggles of young celebrities on the rise to fame. Um. It focuses on actor Lillo Brancato exclusively. In a nutshell, it mostly focuses on how he got the part in The Bronx Tale, his drug addiction which led to a cop being murdered and how still today New York cops still hate him. Which is fine because it was an interesting story but after watching the one hour and six minute documentary I googled the story and found out he went to prison for 8 1/2 years and I'm not sure they even told us that part. Maybe it was passively mentioned so I didn't even realize it. Even though I found the documentary interesting and I enjoyed watching it I'm still not entirely sure what it's supposed to be about. Kind of jumped all over the place and just gave me bits and pieces of random information.

The story of Lilo Brancato is well known to most people. The actors was most famous was his role as Robert Deniro's son in A Bronx Tale. His descent into drug abuse would ruin his career and lead to the death of a NYC police officer. He served over 8 years for Robbery but escaped the more serious charge of murder. His companion was the shooter and while he was a participant in the crime he wasn't charged. This doc directed by a former cop turned film maker and I use that term lightly is terrible. He has no sense of editing ,interviews are way too long. Some of the people you scratch your head trying to figure our what are they doing in this film. Brancato has been trying to restart his career , something I Believe is never going to happen . One of the people interviewed actually states maybe he'll win an academy award one day. Brancato has turned his life around since his release . He attends NA meetings, but he will never be able to live down this crime that led to the death of an off duty police officer. He definitely should have worked with a better group of people to tell his story. The film is amateurish at best. One repeated sequence with Brancato on a couch has some guy off to the right adjusting a camera while sitting on the floor it's all very strange. I'd love to know whet the director was trying to achieve with this. Its worth a look if your interested in the story of Brancato but be warned the film is terrible . Its only redeeming quality is the length which is only 66 minutes. I get a sense in interviews he has given that he doesn't feel responsible for the cops death. Facts are you go to your friends house who always supplied you with drugs. Unknown to you who had died months earlier. You break a window attempting to get in to the apt . The neighbor an off duty cop comes out confronts you both with his gun drawn is shot dead by your buddy and you don't think your responsible .You Certainly Are !!!!!