Two Family House

The most wonderful thing about nostalgia, is the pathos. I didn't watch this film with the belief that "This was the way things were"--rather, I enjoyed the story of Everyman: The wide eyed dreamer with little chance of success. A man whose comfort zone included failure-he was happy with: "I could have been..."

I like misty-eyed forays into Post War America- my childhood was directly shaped by this era. I realize that people were only so different, but the "way of life" was drastically different- Maybe thats what makes nostalgia so attractive: The loss of youth.

At one time small stories on film were common-nowadays we only get to see them on the indy film award circuit. Unfortunately that in itself has come to imply "Great Film"...How about "good film". Would people then watch it to enjoy, instead of honor?

TWO FAMILY HOUSE (2000) *** Michael Rispoli, Kelly Macdonald, Katherine Narducci, Kevin Conway, Matt Servitto, Michele Santopietro, Louis Guss, Rosemary DeAngelis, Anthony Arkin, Saul Stein, Vincent Pastore, John Pizzarelli. Rookie filmmaker Raymond De Felitta based this semi-autobiographical nostalgic romantic drama set in Staten Island circa 1956 on his beloved and well-intentioned late uncle with Rispoli as a working stiff who dreams of opening his own bar to sing in with no help from his totally unsupportive wife Narducci sending him into the unlikely arms of the unwed Irish mother of a biracial baby (the very pretty Macdonald) who is a tenant in their recently bought household.

Rispoli gives a heart-felt performance that echoes Jackie Gleason as a beaten upon husband who just wants something better and the rest of the ensemble adds some color to what could have been a retread of 'Moonstruck', its distant third cousin in theory.

Wonderful period piece and a gem of a sleeper.

Buddy's repressed. A young Italian-American man living in Staten Island in 1956, he sees opportunity all around him. It's laying there waiting for him to pick it up and run with. Except for one major obstacle, his wife Estelle. She wants only for Buddy to find his narrow niche in the local community, with its dead-end job and familiar surroundings, and exist quietly in her idea of the American dream.

But it's not Buddy's vision. So Buddy perseveres, undercut at every turn by Estelle. He finally manages to buy a two-family house to turn into his dream; a bar on the first floor, his home on the second. The current occupants are a foul-mouthed white trash Irish immigrant family, the very young wife in a very pregnant way. When she gives birth to a child whose father is obviously black, the older husband abandons her. And from this point Buddy's life journey takes a remarkable turn.

Two Family House is a prototypical Indie film in all its positive aspects. It does very well with little budget, maximizing the contributions of cast and crew. The uplifting story is told without pandering or exploitation. The movie's not great, but it is effective, and most importantly, very enjoyable.

It seemed strange to see the decidedly outer-borough "Two Family House" at an expensive Manhattan movie theater, until during the opening credits two old ladies sat in front of me, put their coats on the two seats between them, and proceeded to loudly comment on the proceedings to each other throughout the whole movie.

Much like the friends of the protagonists do in this very sweet yet honest depiction of post-WWII life on Staten Island when an off-islander disrupts the quotidian.

While it drags a bit here and there, and the voice-over narration sometimes re-states the already visually obvious, the very New York characters (including one played by "Pussy" of "The Sopranos") are real people in real situations and realistic traps. This is less schmaltzy than Barry Levinson's Baltimore nostalgia-fests.

Filmed in Staten Island, Jersey City and Bayonne, the settings are accompanied by lovely period music by the John Pizzarelli Trio (who also does a cameo appearance as Julius LaRosa).

This is one of those small, charming indie movies that seems to be a labor of love, like a jewel of a short story.

(originally written 10/14/2000)

Late afternoon on a monday, flipping through my 8 chanels of HBO, I found this little number and feel all the richer for it. Good acting and genuine make a shoestring budget feel and slightly implausible plot fade into the recesses of your disbelief. A warm, poignant story about the kind of guy that we can all relate to.