As I go through "Brooklyn rules" DVD sitting on my rack-top for the umpteenth time, i can't help but feel disappointment deep within, not at the movie but at its fate. It is a pity that a film of this grandeur has gone through almost unnoticed by the general audience and critics. It has suffered the same dead-end that an "also ran" type movie suffers, when the truth is that it is far from one.
The first words that float into my mind when I think of this movie is 'tour-de-force'. Yes, we have been subjected to countless of these gangster films over the decades but nothing comes close to this on levels of sheer effectiveness and the connection which it is able to make with the audience. The three protagonists right from their childhood to the untimely demise of one of them, take us on a unforgettable journey, made so not by any dramatic twists in the script or by any enchanting visual imagery in the movie (if you are looking for these things, I would suggest a re-watch of Avatar or perhaps some Justin Beiber), but by the simpleness of the script.
Mike, Carmine and Bobby- the heroes of this tale- have a chemistry going on between them that almost makes you believe in them, believe that what is happening in front of you is real. What most of us are not lucky enough to experience is having childhood friends and still being their closest buddies when we grow old, the joy of calling these friends names, the persistent attempt to one-up each other, the wonder of always sharing our moments of joy, sorrow, and things we love most with them and finally even being willing to kill for them. And it is this true friendship that the movie depicts and does so in a manner that makes you believe in what you are seeing despite their difference in personality and inclinations and despite their differences in education. And this is what later makes you feel the pain of two of our lone warriors left behind when one of the pack leaves them forever in the battlefield that is life. The reactions and the expressions in this leaves no place for superficiality, it is just as if the things are happening to you or me or to a next door neighbor- the film succeeds in depicting the trios life to such a big extent, and herein lies its greatness.
I have all but the greatest respect for Corrente in making the lives three ordinary boys living in a unruly district into this extraordinary film, and yet warn you all the same, that if you haven't watched this yet then don't go in expecting great things cause then you might not find them, but if you just go in to experience something, then I would bet you a thousand bucks that you will come back more full-filled from it and with the knowledge that the 100 minutes of your life were indeed well spent. Watching this movie was indeed a life changing episode for me and I enjoyed it as much as watching the first edition of Rocky (note that I compare the two because these are both simple and yet really powerful movies). The movie is aptly summarized in the conclusive scene by Michael Turner in reminiscence of his departed friend, when he says that wherever you go, and whatever you do- you are never far apart from your true friends and not even death can separate you from them for you always carry them in your heart. And this is exactly what this movie is all about. Their immortal friendship. And so if it is in the case of true friendship, that even if fate has the worst in store for you, you needn't bother as you live forever in the memory of your friends then the same goes for this movie as it will always live on, in the memory of us few faithful followers who could grasp its true meaning.
The first words that float into my mind when I think of this movie is 'tour-de-force'. Yes, we have been subjected to countless of these gangster films over the decades but nothing comes close to this on levels of sheer effectiveness and the connection which it is able to make with the audience. The three protagonists right from their childhood to the untimely demise of one of them, take us on a unforgettable journey, made so not by any dramatic twists in the script or by any enchanting visual imagery in the movie (if you are looking for these things, I would suggest a re-watch of Avatar or perhaps some Justin Beiber), but by the simpleness of the script.
Mike, Carmine and Bobby- the heroes of this tale- have a chemistry going on between them that almost makes you believe in them, believe that what is happening in front of you is real. What most of us are not lucky enough to experience is having childhood friends and still being their closest buddies when we grow old, the joy of calling these friends names, the persistent attempt to one-up each other, the wonder of always sharing our moments of joy, sorrow, and things we love most with them and finally even being willing to kill for them. And it is this true friendship that the movie depicts and does so in a manner that makes you believe in what you are seeing despite their difference in personality and inclinations and despite their differences in education. And this is what later makes you feel the pain of two of our lone warriors left behind when one of the pack leaves them forever in the battlefield that is life. The reactions and the expressions in this leaves no place for superficiality, it is just as if the things are happening to you or me or to a next door neighbor- the film succeeds in depicting the trios life to such a big extent, and herein lies its greatness.
I have all but the greatest respect for Corrente in making the lives three ordinary boys living in a unruly district into this extraordinary film, and yet warn you all the same, that if you haven't watched this yet then don't go in expecting great things cause then you might not find them, but if you just go in to experience something, then I would bet you a thousand bucks that you will come back more full-filled from it and with the knowledge that the 100 minutes of your life were indeed well spent. Watching this movie was indeed a life changing episode for me and I enjoyed it as much as watching the first edition of Rocky (note that I compare the two because these are both simple and yet really powerful movies). The movie is aptly summarized in the conclusive scene by Michael Turner in reminiscence of his departed friend, when he says that wherever you go, and whatever you do- you are never far apart from your true friends and not even death can separate you from them for you always carry them in your heart. And this is exactly what this movie is all about. Their immortal friendship. And so if it is in the case of true friendship, that even if fate has the worst in store for you, you needn't bother as you live forever in the memory of your friends then the same goes for this movie as it will always live on, in the memory of us few faithful followers who could grasp its true meaning.