Cool Crime

If Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch had made a movie together, it might have looked like "Cool Crime". In a nutshell, the film was about an Italian immigrant (David Ackert) who arrives in Los Angeles to be reunited his beloved uncle Bruce (Robert Miano). He discovers that Bruce has since made a name for himself as a local pimp and is now in a body bag after getting gunned down by a corrupt cop (Robert Cicchini). But just as Nino is getting ready to pack up and head back to the old country, Bruce's ghost appears in Shakespearian fashion with the classic "avenge my death" plea. Nino's a good boy so he does as he's told, but he learns quickly that he doesn't have the stomach for murder. There are a lot of darkly funny moments along the way, and a twisty plot that often feels weird and random but which ultimately pays off. It occasionally suffers from being weird just for the heck of it, but the cinematography is richly colorful and Ari Barak makes a smooth and sexy villain as Billardo. Sometimes the Nino storyline loses steam, but David Ackert keeps things moving with good comic timing and sensitive believability.

In base terms, the story follows an Italian immigrant named Nino (Ackert), who comes to America to live in L.A. with his uncle. Sadly, upon arrival, uncle (who turns out to be a drug dealer) is dead. But things get really strange when the spirit of the dead uncle comes to visit Nino, pleading for revenge.

That's only the beginning, and patient viewers will no doubt be rewarded by director Cohen- Olivar's nuanced work. I'm not that patient a person, so Cool Crime's more mellow moments tended to drag me down. But many of the Tarantino fueled scenes and outrageous characters have their moments, even if the film, as a whole, is uneven.

Ultimately and unfortunately, I saw the "surprise" ending coming, but I suspect most people reading this review don't have the hyperint elligence that I do, so you'll probably sit up in your seat. Suffice it to say that this is a picture that could only take place in L.A.