Voglia di vendetta

I saw this film over 5 years ago so I can't provide too much detail, but it has always stuck with me. It's sort of a semi-Gothic mood piece, extremely somber (like O'Keefe's character) and fragile (Fonda's). The film-makers exquisitely capture the feelings of resentment and bitterness that permeate a dying town where corruption casts a dark shadow over everything that goes on. O'Keefe has returned to the town after a long absence to attend, if memory serves, the funeral of his brother. He strikes up an ill-advised relationship with the brother's former girlfriend, who knows more than she's letting on about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the brother's death. In the process they both run afoul of the town's disturbingly ever-present police chief (played seedily and sadistically by an actor whose name I can't recall.)

For the most part, an achingly rendered tragedy with some remarkably vivid imagery, until it climaxes with an incongruously bloody and violent finale. Still, some of O'Keefe's (almost a grown-up version of his character in "The Great Santini") and Fonda's best, if little-seen and un-commented upon, work.

My wife made me watch this because it was filmed in her hometown. It's garbage. Utter garbage. There is nothing good. The acting is awful. The director clearly had his training in the adult film industry. I really feel bad for the people invested their time and money into this. Brigette Fonda is awful. Michael O'Keefe is about as awful as he gets, that's worse than his characters on MASH. I can't believe O'Keefe got steady work on a network television show after this. Whoever made this also had a clear obsession with Twin Peaks as it is a terrible, terrible, terrible piece of trash ripoff. Don't even bother watching or wasting your time. If your wife makes you watch it, file for divorce.

After his brother's apparent suicide a young man by the name of "Frank Reade" (Michael O'Keefe) returns to his old home town to attend the funeral. Although he doesn't get along well with his father "Nat Reade" (John Seitz) he stops by the tannery where he works as a courteous gesture but is rebuffed for it all the same. That being said, the next person he visits is a night club owner named "Drew Smith" (Al Shannon) to try to find some answers as to why his brother killed himself. Not satisfied he then goes back to his younger brother's mobile home and gets some sleep. Immediately after the funeral the next day he is picked up by the police where he is given his brother's personal effects by "Sheriff Bill Neff" (John O'Keefe) but is once again dissatisfied with the reasons for his brother's suicide. Things change, however, when he meets his brother's girlfriend "Jo" (Bridget Fonda) who seems to have acquired an immediate fondness for him for reasons he doesn't quite understand. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a rather mundane mystery-drama which didn't quite have the passion or suspense necessary for a film of this type. In addition to that, I didn't particularly care for the performance of Bridget Fonda who played her part in a less than convincing manner as well. In any case, while this wasn't necessarily a bad film by any means, it wasn't anything special and I have rated it accordingly.

This undervalued film is consistently interesting, and benefits from solid production values and able performances by cast members, as well as a felicitous score by composer/pianist Cingiz Yaltkaya that matches the work's melancholy tone, and excellent design that adds to the effectively directed pacing of the narrative. It is a tale that relates of a vagabond who decides to investigate the ostensible suicide of his younger brother despite having to deal with rude demeanor from a community that avoids giving answers to his probing queries. Frank Reade (Michael O'Keefe), an aimless rover of sorts, returns to his home town in order to attend funeral services for his younger brother Jimmy, apparently a suicide. His incidental attempts to learn what was behind Jimmy's passing are obstructed by his friends and by his own father (John Seitz), all while Jimmy's somewhat emotionally disturbed girl friend Jolene (Bridget Fonda) attaches herself to an initially resistant Frank; however, her enigmatic remarks to him eventually contain a special significance that lead him to believe that his brother's death may have been a homicide. When Frank delves into possible causes of the fatal event, he unsheathes a tangle of illicit activity involving narcotics that has engaged both Jimmy and his father, in addition to discovering an incestuous relationship that has snared Jolene and, largely as a result of a corrupt local sheriff, it becomes quite plain that Frank Reade's stay in the town will be for a much longer period than was anticipated by him. Most of the film's players are at least competent, with O'Keefe gathering in the acting honours with an intense performance as a loner who finds himself over his head in a struggle with townspeople who are not inclined to wish the best for him. Fonda creates her role of Jolene with skill despite its being a rather underwritten part. Although the scenario hastens to a maladroit conclusion, director Winick and those others responsible for post-production editing have united to establish the work's noteworthy pacing, and the camera skills of Makato Watanabe visually the captures the enervated character of an industrial community in decline. Scoring by Yaltkaya, albeit deceptively modest, has received first class sound editing to match the film's moody temper. Shot in upstate New York's Fulton County, largely in the small cities of Johnstown and Gloversville, this film can be recommended to those viewers interested in independent cinema, principally for its mood projection, as well as for its smooth narrative flow, until its rickety final scenes. It has not been released in a DVD format but is worth one's effort to locate as a VHS tape.