User Reviews

Bless Me Father the opening used at Cathoiic confessions. Actually, it is Bless me Father, for I have sinned and it has been ??? Since my last confession. Mine was over fifty years ago.

The opening scenes of a church in New Jersey are breathtaking. The murals are just spectacular. A troubled young man named Vinny is met by his parish priest and he enters the confessional box to seek forgiveness for his multitude of sins and the list is a long one.

Flashbacks are used and we see frequent drug use and bloody murders along the way. Vinny's mom is deep in debt due to her father's medical bills and her son uses illegal means to rescue her.

A strip club is repeatedly used as a meeting place for the mobsters, and for some reason the strippers are never topless but twirl around strip poles in thongs.

The ending made no sense at all and it could have been a contender.

I'm not seeing the hype for this movie at all. I have seen about every good mafia movie for the past 45 years or so. I watched this one with an open mind and it just came across as low budget. The cinematography was Kmart. The dialogue is shallow, repetitious and lame. It's not a suspenseful movie and when you get to the end the only word that crossed my mind was... pointless. It has some enormous unrealistic plot holes in it too. My son watched it with me, and he said the same. I can only think the people raving about this movie have never actually seen a really good mafia movie because this certainly isn't one. You have to have little to no experience with outstanding mafia movies to heap superlatives on this movie in my opinion. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. It makes me wonder if some of these over-the-top raving reviews were not bought and paid for. It's simply way too much for way too little. The ending really summed it up, dumb.

While I applaud the efforts of an aspiring filmmaker, this story is entirely unoriginal and an amateur stereotypical Italian mobster movie with nothing new to offer it's viewers. Little character development.

Regrettably, the film falls short in its execution, leaving the audience yearning for a more compelling narrative.

One of the major drawbacks of the movie lies in its storytelling. The plot feels disjointed, lacking the necessary coherence to keep viewers engaged. Crucial character developments and motivations are left unexplored, leaving the audience disconnected from the characters' actions and decisions.

Moreover, the film fails to capitalize on the rich potential of its setting, neglecting to immerse the audience fully in the vibrant world of organized crime.

The characters remain one-dimensional, and their interactions lack the intensity and emotional depth that one would expect from a mobster movie.

Furthermore, the pacing of the film feels uneven, with slow and dragging moments interspersed with rushed and underdeveloped scenes. This inconsistency hampers the movie's ability to build tension and fails to deliver a satisfying climax.

On a positive note, the film does boast some impressive cinematography and occasional moments of tension, showcasing glimpses of its untapped potential. However, these bright spots are overshadowed by the movie's overall shortcomings.

Seriously? Do you really call this messy "moving pictures" a movie? Should be plenty of making bold mistakes in directing, cinematography, and editing called "indie art"? To add ,repetitious story, amateur acting, pointless & unnecessary scenes (more than twenty times close-up shots of twerking in Strip club), near zero characterizations, and this list can go on forever! It seems those who give 10/10 to this fake movie, have never seen a gangster movie before. Please do yourself a favor and absolutely avoid wasting your one hour and half precious life on this. Surely "Bless me father" can be the best candidate for the worst film of the year!

From start to finish this was a great film. It was entertaining well-presented and the music was powerful. I loved the cast they kept me entertained with raw performances that weren't pushed at all. I think this was a very well cast piece as it seemed all characters fitted their roles perfectly. The story itself has lots of unseen surprises for the audience. Without giving any spoilers there is one point in the film where you are so confused about the main characters decision in the moment. Vinny played by Gianni McLaughlin is a very complex character and the motives behind his choices. Gianni did a great job and I hope to see more.

This movie is really intense and you almost have to be kind of smart to actually understand its beauty. The essence of the film is electrifying. The fact you're in a confession booth the whole movie is really cool. Wait until you see the end. The writing of the story had been guessing which way the title was going to go, it was refreshing. Usually you can guess what's going to happen next in a movie and you figure it out yourself, but this one will have you guess. You have to be paying attention when you watch this movie. Not everything is spelled out loud for you. You have to let you imagination kick in, which to me is the true measure of great art!

Saw this on LongIslandItalian Insta page earlier and gave it a watch. Really happy they are pushing this to the right community. All my friends ate it up as well. Good to see young Italians out there doing their thing. When everyone has become TikTok and Instagram stars, these guys are sticking to the old school talented way of making film.

This movie is fast paced, and thrilling. There is no wasted time. They get right to the case. If you like indie films with a raw gritty feeling you will deff love this movie. I recommend to all the Italians out there looking for something new and refreshing to watch.

I've heard a lot of opinions about this film, most of them are good, but I wanted to see what's good for myself. So i checked it out and I would agree. I strongly reccomened this movie to indie film lovers who want to see an Italian Mob Movie done the right way. It's raw, gritty and authentic. Usually when films are two raw or gritty they take away from the film, but with Bless me Father it added a level of intensity and realness. My favorite scene is in the basement of the strip club with Trulove. I felt like I was there in the room with everyone. So authentic and real! Really loved what they pulled off.

This is crazy, I grew up watching some of these guys play high school football and college football. Some big former football players in this movie. If anyone knows, Betim Bujari, who played Nino, was the starting center at Rutgers for 4 years. Bekim Bujari who plays Gino in the movie is a great football player as well, He played professionally. Haha this is so funny to see them play Gino and Nino. There scene is my favorite in the movie. I won't give it away, but you gotta check out that scene. So many local guys, so great to see up there on the big screen going for it! It's nice to see this.

Bless Me Father is a great movie. It really blows my mind that this film was made with all non actors and it was the filmmakers debut feature film. I am giving them this rating because for limited resources they had and the extremely small budget this was made on it's almost impossible what they did. Usually I don't like when I hear someone wrote, directed, acted, edited, and even did the sound design, but McLaughlin pulled it off. I would say for him next time to delegate some of the responsibilities to other people and the movies will be that much better, it's still really impressive. You can tell the guy put his soul into it. Ive seen the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo work. This movie is no where near that level of greatness, but I would say the guys out there doing his thing.

This movie reminds me a lot of boondocks saints when it first came out. A lot fo local buzz. Many people are talking about this movie in the New York/ New Jersey area. I think it's because there are no big shot movie stars and you got raw authentic acting. It's like their a documentary when it's a movie. I Think it's great the movie shed a dark light on the mob genre as well. Not glorifying it. I think it's also great that it's a modern day mob movie. You never really see movies like this set in 2020. Great to see this. I hope they make a sequel. I want o find out more. Like did they really have to end it like that though? I had that same sick feeling as I did when I watched the end of the sopranos.

Italian mafia done the right way. Bless Me Father has my head spinning the whole time all for good reason. The film set me up and smacked me down a few times. I got emotional watching it. It draws you in and you really start felling for the characters. Antonio the god-brother in the movie was great. I think it's his Italian and his accent that make him so legit. You usually see Italian mob movies and the guys can barely speak the language. This guys is belting it out like I'm watching Gomorra. The boss was sick and I loved the family scene. The old grandfather was hilarious. I wonder how old that guy is. Tina was great too and of course Vinny. I couldn't tell if I liked him or not but at the end I felt for him.

Great film, definitely worth a watch. The cast of this film are such an interesting bunch of characters, after some research it becomes apparent that nearly the whole cast are actually non-actors and this is there first work. Well when you take that into consideration is just so hard to believe as this really is an incredible piece of work with the acting be such top quality. Apart from the acting this film holds up next to the greats it is thrilling full of life and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I am sure I will be seeing more work like this from these creators soon or big things either way I'm sure this talent won't go undiscovered.

This flick won't disappoint if you are thinking about it definitely hit buy. It's a film full of passion full of emotion I really loved it and it got to be very emotional at different points in the film. I would like to see more women next time and not just more women half naked but more of the women who are closest to the protagonist Vinny's life. For example, his girlfriend Tina, it would have been great to have seen more of her at the beginning of the piece she was a great character and I think it would have added a lot to the plot to have seen more of her. Great role which I think the actress smashed completely. That said great performances all round.

Great movie! Wow I can not believe this was all filmed in NJ, It makes the armpit of America (lol) look great. The scenery is so beautiful it's almost hard to believe this film had the budget listed. Like a Hollywood film would have used the budget of this whole film on less than 1 minuet of footage and it wouldn't nearly be as entertaining as this film. This film just kept coming with the punches crime, stripers drugs it had it all. Really depicting the gangster lifestyle in such a cinematic way. Really impressive cast as well no one looked as if they were acting, such natural performances I loved it!!

This movie really moved me. The message the whole story portrays really digs deep into morals of right and wrong and who all the mob movements are really for. The directing of the film is very impressive, it was inventive and fresh in its movement. The use of mirrors is such a hard thing to incorporate when it comes to directing as it's so easy to catch the filming crew in the shot. This thankfully didn't happen and all the mirror shots in the film where masterfully pulled off. They really added a trippy mood to the film. There were other things that made this film trippy; the fades use by the editor where very interesting and made the transitions from scene to scene visually impactful.

All I saw wrong to lose a star was that it isn't long enough, I want more!? Any way there will be a sequel, I would love to watch one. I would want to know what happened to Vinny and have the story explained in more depth as it was so captivating, and I couldn't take my mind of the plot after I had finished watching. What a well written script with a story line you don't see coming at all. Around every corner is an unforeseen change of events are it really kept the story exciting and engaging. I would love to see more form this talented cast and crew seriously will there be a sequel as I want one!!!

This film smashed it!!! Love seeing young film makers make something really great with the budget they have been given. Makes a real difference when instead of trying to make a film that looks like a 10 million dollar budget the film makers are like this is what we have let's make a kick ass film with what we have. Everything worked, from the cast members to the NJ waterfront view of Manhattan. The Film gives a real On The Waterfront feel with Gianni McLaughlin the director doing a great job of showcasing one of the most beautiful views in the world in the perfect way. The only thing I would say is it should be longer next time!!!

This film has a very unique plot. I have a gift for guessing the end of films, it's like within the first 5 minuets I can tell you what is going to happen as I just feel most films give away the plot with bad acting or directing. Well Bless Me Father had me guessing until the very end! I also must take a moment to mention that the trailer to this film was amazing!!!! The fact that these days trailers are so long and give so many spoilers really get on my nerves as it's like you have seen all the best parts of the film before you have watched and when it comes time to watch you are so unfulfilled. This film lives up to the hype and the best bits are not in the trailer they are in the actual body of work.

This movie reminds me of Mean Streets. This could very well be Gianni McLaughlin's version of it. I'm sure he was really influenced by that movie. It's nice to see young filmmakers finding themselves in their work. Someone should send this film the Marty and tell them it's a homage to his movie. I love Mean Streets, I saw it come out at the New York Film Festival in 73', so I really do love my cinema. I give this movie such a high rating because with all the garbage that's made now a days it's good to see some films are still coming from the heart. The Don was incredible in this movie, Paris Branda. He's a natural. I've never seen him before, but he's good. I liked all the characters in this movie. The production pulled off what they wanted. My hat off to them.

No joke my wife and I have already watched the movie 5x. We keep going to watch another movie but when we search for something to watch we keep finding ourselves watching Bless Me Father again! It's one of those movies that keeps getting better as you go because you can see more of the details. It actually blows my mind how intense this movie is. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I was totally bought in at the end. I was so shocked with the ending. It is very clever what they did. Forcing people to pay attention and use their imagination. Love it! If you want to become obsessed with a movie then this is the one!

What a perfect title for this movie. So happy this wasn't like some gun slinging bloody gory soulless Italian Mob Movie. There was a spirit running through it. You can tell that this movie was made with passion. The movie brought out into this world that was really captivating. I liked how the filming was done. It reminded me of a mash up of Scorsese and Fellini. New York Italian Mob combined with raw neorealist Italian classic cinema in a modern day urban setting. Incredible how they were able to make this movie for such little money too! Crazy! These filmmakers are talented. The actors are even more talented. I look forward to the next movie.

Where do I begin? Wow! Okay this is great. From the second it begins it drew me in. Intense, fast paced, exciting, suspenseful, the list goes on. The connection between the characters was incredible in the movie. That really helped me enjoy the film. It wasn't like people were acting. The storyline was nice. I mean it isn't the most original storyline, but that doesn't matter when you see where the movie goes. It doesn't end up like you stereotypical mobster movie. It was accomplished poetically. The director forces you too may attention and he rewards you at the end with the finale. I would recommend the movie to anyone that likes indie films that tend to veer off the Hollywood blockbuster playbook. Very refreshing.