didn't know EXACTLY where to put this so I just put it here.
This is too slow and sloppy to outright recommend but it's pretty awesome in many ways. It's directed By former Warhol co hort Paul Morrisey. Its been a decade or more since I've seen it but I really liked his 60's era movies "Trash" and especially "Heat". It was cheap and low budget but coherent and pretty funny and crazy. This is not quite as good as that but if you are a fan of anything from Wild Style to other pre guliani NYC is a jungle type fare like The Warriors or Vigilante this will definitely be of interest.
A Brazilian family runs a drug dealership, whatever they are called, in Alphabet city which is in Lower Manhattan. Nowadays its more gentrified but back in the 80s it was totally bananas and basically a third world country. They get in a turf war with a Puerto Rican gang (the clueless german supplier "I though latinos were latinos" ) and much violence / many teenage boys getting killed ensues.
The male lead is a spanish Joe Dallesandro (actor from "Heat" and other Morrisey films). His mother is like a stereotypical spanish restaurant painting of a flamenco dancer- meets Ma Barker and is the main pro/ antagonist (hard to say) here. Her acting is pretty rough in the begining but she grows on you. The same can be said for everybody really. One interesting element is the very pretty british girlfriend of the supplier who somehow becomes part of this universe. It's hard to imagine how this would happen and this question is never asked or explored but it's interesting to watch.
The movie is very authentic and the idea of these people who never leave this one part of the city ever is fascinating, like a sci fi movie. Unfortunately, as much violence and grittiness as there is it doesn't actually move all that well. It has a normal running time but feels alot longer.
3.75 / 5
but unforgettable and an amazing artifact of early 80's NYC.
