Laws of Gravity

One of the things that bugs me about indie film-making is that the wrong people make it to step two. Nick Gomez surely should have been able to do more work than "Illtown" and "New Jersey Drive" after finishing this well-crafted, if choppy, urban tale. I liked "New Jersey Drive" a lot, so I guess Nick's getting his recognition through "The Sopranos" at the moment. And why is Mr. Green still only playing psychos and tiny little bit parts, apart from his brilliant work in "Clean Shaven"? At least Adam Trese went on to "Palookaville"!

Ok, so that's more of a rant than a review, and I'll cut to the chase:

If you liked "Bottle Rocket", "Palookaville", or "A Bronx Tale", see this film.

It's an old story, but I'll tell it again:

Guys from bad neighborhoods, against whom the deck is pretty well stacked, get some better-than-usual goods to sell. And sell them they must, under less than ideal circumstances, leading to all sorts of fun and frolic, in a very non-comedic sense. Greene, Trese, Falco, and Schulze stand out. Saul Stein is quite creepy as the face of the "new mob".

This sort of film appeals to me more in its American genre than the current British versions of this story ("London Kills Me", "Lock, Stock", "Twin Town", and "Trainspotting") as the Scots/Welsh/Home Counties vision of petty crime has a heavily injected fantasy slant absent in four American flix cited in my discussion.

Also, these petty-street-crime films are probably (with the exception of John Sayles) one of the few windows into American poverty available in US film right now. The scene in "Laws of Gravity" between minor criminal Frankie and Greene's screen spouse Denise (Edie Falco) on the nature of life and work is brilliant.

lordwhorfin says, go ye forth and rent.

With so many movies copy-catting winning formulas,it is a shame, but no surprise, that "Laws of Gravity" is a little-seen, hardly ever-recalled movie. It got lost in the Chasing Amy/She's the One/Do the Right Thing indie over-load. And I'm not knocking those movies. But please give due credit to the "godfather" of indies,which combined a gutsy and raw, yet still highly intelligent script with near-flawless acting and, at that time, never-before-seen editing and cinematography. Can you tell I'm a fan? I too, like many other viewers, "stumbled" upon this movie while channel-surfing late at night. This will not be a review, being that I don't want to give away any key moments of the film. Rather, this is a plea to all movie lovers to beg, threaten, and/or intimidate the powers-that-be to release this film on video and DVD for, to my extreme shock, this film is nowhere to be found. (Save for the afore-mentioned "stumble".) And if you find it there, TAPE IT! This is definitely one for the personal library!

The first time I saw this movie was about six years ago on either Showtime or Cinemax can't remember which. I was blown away I missed the first few minutes and thought at first that I was watching a documentary. The hyper camera work, the dialog, the more than real life acting, and very believable situations. No Hollywood style glizt and glamour here. No big name actors, no multi-Jillion dollar budgets. Just basic film making in it's rarest form; raw, unrefined in other words REAL. Real characters, no complicated plots no surprise endings no Hollywood endings no explosions no car chases and crashes. This film is a real character study and you know how it's going to end, the only way it can. (Hey Independent Film Channel why haven't you put this one air yet)?

"Laws of Gravity" is a hyper-realistic docudrama and an excellent clinic on the loser mentality of the mean streets of Brooklyn. Focusing on the tribal order of several white urban hoodlums, this flick is about as real as it gets with actors...many of whom are on their first outing. A good watch for those into realism and crime films.

Back when "Independent" movies were exploding in the early 90s this little gem came out. Full disclosure, I'm a born, raised & still here native NYC boy & I knew these kinds of people. People in other reviews wonder about where these characters are from? They're from everywhere & this was the real deal back in early 90s. This is before Williamsburg & Greenpoint areas of Bklyn exploded & became gentrified 'beautiful' neighborhoods. Nick Gomez created this movie that kinda spans just a few days, that are probably like many other days in these characters' lives. Edie Falco, Paul Schultze, Peter Greene all before their big roles in the Sopranos, Nurse Jackie & Pulp Fiction for P. Greene ("Bring out the Gimp...Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead.)

Back in the early 90s, Falco & Schultze were working as waiters & bartender at my friend's bar (for real, though not for much longer obviously). Indie movie world was bursting and Nick Gomez was the hot young new director after this movie. I found it totally by chance on some cable system in NJ & showed it to my 20 yr old son. Not sure he appreciated & liked it as much as I did, but I loved the Scorsese/Cassavettes style of exploring the low gritty lives of struggling characters banging their heads against the 'mean streets' of their environment. There's not a load of action in this movie but as other reviewers noted, it feels like your a fly on the wall in these characters' lives for a few days. And for someone who's from this neighborhood, everything feels real, legit & authentic, warts & all. I totally recommend it this to anyone curious about the Indie movie world of early 90s & gritty pre-gentrified Bklyn. Just be warned it's not an action movie but it's xclnt, in my humble opinion...Enjoy.