Taxman

This is an offbeat, often funny film about a taxman who is investigating a crime when he meets a Russian family and eventually begins to care about them. There are twists but it is mostly a character driven film. Joe Pantoliano is (as usual) great as the taxman. Elizabeth Berkley does a good job as the Russian daughter. Her accent is on target. Robert "The Meteor Man" Townsend is also in it who does an okay job as a lawyer. Joe Pantoliano never gets praise when praise is due. He always puts at least a little effort and energy into all his roles. He usually steals all the movies where he is a supporting character. As evident with this film, he is definitely ready for the lead roles.

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I originally saw "The Taxman" because I enjoy watching Elizabeth Berkley. Her portrayal of Nadia is her finest work to date. I doubt that it will silence the many critics of this young woman but it does show very well what she is a very capable actress. But beyond the performance of Elizabeth, the film is also very well done. Michael Chiklis is excellent as Nadia's father- a sort of Russian mafia kindly godfather character. But perhaps what really makes the film is the apparently accurate depiction of a tax fraud investigation. A movie about tax fraud investigation is rather unique to begin with and would strike many as rather boring. But a crime related movie that avoids all the usual cliches of mindless violence and fast cars and women is even more rare these days. Yet "The Taxman" manages to both avoid being routine and to be engrossing as well. By the way, I loved Elizabeth's sexy Russian accent.

I thought that some of you might be interested in knowing what it's like to actually work on films like these. I was on the crew as a Production Assistant. It was an independent film (not produced by a major Hollywood studio) which meant a low budget. We shot it mostly in Brooklyn where the real Russian mob have been known to operate from. It was an extremely difficult movie to work on because it was poorly managed and there were a lot of jerks on the crew. I think a big reason why so many people acted like they did was because of the utter chaos which stressed everyone out. On most other productions they are probably nicer people. The producers didn't care that we didn't have enough resources to do our jobs because all they wanted to do was keep the budget down. The production coordinator had the nerve to ask me to work on Thanksgiving and then got annoyed when I refused. We worked six days a week at an average of 15 hours a day. Then near the end they laid off a bunch of us, including me because of budget problems. Several other Production Assistants quit beforehand which I can say from experience is not typical, even on low budget movies. They also fired a few other members of the crew. I will admit it was a good film when I saw it and was amazed they were able to pull if off considering how much they screwed up the actual shoot. I invite all comments and questions.

This is a small little gem of a movie. It has a good script, great acting, and deals with an important subject: the influx of Russian organized crime into the US. It is all the more interesting because the protagonist is not a flashy A-list actor, and his character is just a tax inspector with a mortgage and alimony payments. In this respect, it is much more realistic than typical Hollywood cops & robbers b*******t. This film had several very touching moments, made more poignant by the fact that the main character is a regular working stiff.

This was Joe Pantoliano's first starring role, and I've always found him to play interesting guys - AFTER this movie because he's kind of flat in here. His character, "Al Benjamin," doesn't have the normal "Joey Pants" spark to him. Even the narration - and I love narration - is dull. His character also is a little obnoxious to be the "hero" of the story. Unlike others, I was expecting more going into this viewing.

His sidekick, however: "Joseph Romero" (Wade Dominguez) is very interesting. Michael Chiklis also was good as a Russian businessman who has been a target of the Soviet hit men.

The story is a bit convoluted, concerning the Russian and gas stations being used as fronts for tax purposes. Once again, we get the typical Hollywood cliché of the good cop being a renegade on the force. Overall: fair, at best.