There has never been any doubt that Robert De Niro can act rings around just about any actor today but it came as a surprise that he is also a director of some skill. It is clear, who he has drawn a lot of inspiration from, but unlike Scorsese his film "A Bronx Tale" is a quiet character study where the violence doesn't hit you over the head.
Chazz Palminteri, who plays the local mob boss, Sonny, wrote a play about his childhood and De Niro read it. He then met with Palminteri and said (this is how Palminteri himself described it on the AFI Awards show for De Niro): "You can get anybody to make this movie but if I'll make it f***ing right!" Boy, was he right. The director could have made this into a clichéd gang flick but De Niro made it with heart and wit.
De Niro also plays the father, Lorenzo, and his son Calogero (based on Palminteri) is played by Francis Capra as a child and Lillo Brancato as a teen. The latter was a real find. He actually looks like De Niro and he can act too. The way the relationships between Lorenzo, Sonny and Calogero are portrayed is the best parts of this movie. You can actually buy that Sonny could get a boys respect and still maintain his feared image and you can also buy that Lorenzo does make sense most of the time but that it is the boy who teaches the father a lesson at the end, to respect another person even though he does not fulfill your perception of a model citizen.
The things I have just written maybe sound a bit hard to swallow but it shouldn't turn you off seeing the movie because it is the most accomplished piece of work by a first time director that I have ever seen and I hope De Niro will make another stab at directing soon. Lately, he doesn't seem to have that much interest in making anything other than comedies and that's okay but he should consider making at least one film more that you can relate to like this one certainly did to me.
Chazz Palminteri, who plays the local mob boss, Sonny, wrote a play about his childhood and De Niro read it. He then met with Palminteri and said (this is how Palminteri himself described it on the AFI Awards show for De Niro): "You can get anybody to make this movie but if I'll make it f***ing right!" Boy, was he right. The director could have made this into a clichéd gang flick but De Niro made it with heart and wit.
De Niro also plays the father, Lorenzo, and his son Calogero (based on Palminteri) is played by Francis Capra as a child and Lillo Brancato as a teen. The latter was a real find. He actually looks like De Niro and he can act too. The way the relationships between Lorenzo, Sonny and Calogero are portrayed is the best parts of this movie. You can actually buy that Sonny could get a boys respect and still maintain his feared image and you can also buy that Lorenzo does make sense most of the time but that it is the boy who teaches the father a lesson at the end, to respect another person even though he does not fulfill your perception of a model citizen.
The things I have just written maybe sound a bit hard to swallow but it shouldn't turn you off seeing the movie because it is the most accomplished piece of work by a first time director that I have ever seen and I hope De Niro will make another stab at directing soon. Lately, he doesn't seem to have that much interest in making anything other than comedies and that's okay but he should consider making at least one film more that you can relate to like this one certainly did to me.