I'm no specialist in cinema & understand little, technically speaking. I'm just the consumer but when I saw the low rating for this film, I didn't understand why so I felt obligated to post a review.
It's a tale oft told of the difficulty of breaking free from the milieu in which one is born and raised, especially when it is a violent, impoverished and disenfranchised milieu, in this case the Bronx ....
The central character comes from such dysfunctionality and disconnect with the family that resides in his overcrowded household, yet part of the skill of this film is that these relationships are portrayed so realistically and authentically while giving a window to the pain within the main people and the heartache that is behind their conditioned and limited ways of failing to connect, so there is ultimately empathy for them.
What lends colour and warmth to what could otherwise be a hard to handle bleakness, is the central character is wedded to his guitar and driven to sing and play & it is this that creates a slim fragile avenue of opportunity and escape which he only narrowly finds. So the richness to the texture of the film comes from his singing, his friends, & his drawing the attention of a girl who is surprisingly mature beyond her years, but mainly & especially how the unfolding drama is narrated by the songs of the accompanying soundtrack.....there is a depth and thoughtfulness in the song choices that makes listening a pleasure, while narrating the drama & therefore offsets or enriches what might otherwise feel so bleak. And it shows a level of thoughtfulness, and intelligence at work in this film which I appreciate and can't help but feel reeled in by.
I just watched this after a mildly entertaining tv series called Viewpoint. In Viewpoint, I had to turn away and squirm when the 2 leads finally get it together romantically. It was the opposite of chemistry. I could not help but think these actors were repelled by each other off screen, but by contrast when this finally happens in this film, I feel very moved. It feels so believable.
It's one of those films which when I finish, I feel moved & uplifted by, and like I understand a little more about the world and about life and the narrow, fragile, sometimes rare, threads of love and support which if found and followed, can make all the difference re whether one rises above one's conditions
The actors do a great job.
