Gravesend

I love films like this. Pacy, lean and funny. It will no doubt draw fire for being a bit Scorcese-esque, and admittedly, the character Zane owes a lot to De Niro in Mean Streets, but in fact the film actually resembles L'Haine a lot more. The difficult customer scene is very funny, and the whole thing was neatly finished. Great stuff.

Gravesend takes place in a beaten down Brooklyn neighborhood near Coney Island. Immediately, it is clear that the young writer/director of this film takes all his energy and inspiration for his characters out of the streets for this film, and does so convincingly. Much of this films' buzz centered around the fact that the director was young and made the film at a very low-budget, adding to this films rough urban flavor. Many critics deplored the film because of its' repeatative non-stop pointless fights among the friends, however I believe they were an essential part of the film. We learn to dislike most of the characters, often glad that their lives aren't ours, and at times the dialog can be suprisingly humorous given the cynical nature of this film. Tony Tucci alone is reason enough to see this movie, playing a violent, rough, worthless twenty-something who is neither a good friend, good person, and more or less continually fails at what he does throughout the coarse of the night. With a better written plot and storyline, this film could have done what Mean Streets did for Martin Scorecese for this young director, but unfortunately falls short. However, to anyone interested in film and film making, highly recommended.

I can't believe the low rating this movie has received so far. It's a great description of life in an east coast city. The events evolve like a great tragedy... It's like a mix between Shakespeare and Cassavetes. The acting is top notch... no need to qualify it with "for unknowns"... The shot of the freeway bridge at the end reminds me a little of the end of "Over the Edge", another great modern tragedy. This is definitely not a suburban film, though, which may be why some people can't seem to connect.

While it is indeed commendable that this guy made a movie at the age of 19 for 5000 (or whatever the myth for this one is), is does not excuse the fact that this movie is a terrible, boring, poorly conceived piece of garbage. The acting is uniformly terrible, the dialogue inane. Avoid this movie at all costs. One of the worst films I've ever seen.

A poor rating for a cutting edge, innovative, creative crime drama, brilliantly painting a portrait of the nature of friendship and community? Isn't this the IMDb? Aren't we supposed to like, nay LOVE, movies? This film is Mean Streets for the Tarantino generation, with more balls than a dozen Hollywood movies. Stabile deserves to be up there with those other indie directors of the 90's. but maybe he has probably held fast to his beliefs and was not prepared to fall in the sewer of self-indulgent, bloated garbage that has passed for the 90's indie crowd's subsequent output. This movie should be seen by all aspiring directors of what can be done on a shoestring budget if you possess intelligence.