Little Odessa (1994)

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Movie
German title Little Odessa
Original title Little Odessa
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1994
length 98 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director James Gray
script James Gray
production Paul Webster ,
Claudia Lewis ,
Rolf Mittweg ,
Kerry Orent ,
Nick Wechsler
music Dana Sano
camera Tom Richmond
cut Dorian Harris
occupation
synchronization

Little Odessa (Alternative title: Little Odessa - Ice Cold as Death ) from 1994 is the first feature film by the American director James Gray , who also wrote the screenplay .

action

Joshua Shapira is a professional killer . Due to an assignment, he returns one day to Brighton Beach , where he grew up and where his family lives. Because he is wanted by the gang boss Boris Volkoff, whose son he once shot, his whereabouts must remain a secret. After being seen by Sasha, an old friend, who tells this to Joshua's brother Reuben, he meets with Joshua and tells him that her mother Irina is dying. When Joshua wants to visit her, his father Arkady expels him from the apartment. He later meets with Alla, a former girlfriend. After Joshua met his father after visiting his lover Natasha, he put pressure on him to get permission to see his mother.

When Joshua, Sasha and two other friends, kidnapped the target of his assignment, a diamond dealer, from his apartment, they were watched by Reuben. He follows them to an old factory site and watches as his brother shoots the dealer and then the body is cremated. After the murderers throw away the used revolver, Reuben takes it.

Arkady finds letters in Reuben's room showing that Reuben has been skipping school for several months. That's why he beats Reuben. When Joshua, who is about to say goodbye to his brother, sees bruises on his face, he kidnaps his father to kill him, but he does not. Arkady then betrays Joshua to Boris Volkoff. His gangsters kill Alla, with whom Joshua spent the night. Reuben, who wants to help his brother, shoots one of the gangsters and is then accidentally shot by Sasha. Joshua burns his brother's body in the old factory building and leaves Brighton Beach.

background

Little Odessa was filmed in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge , Brighton Beach, Coney Island , Red Hook and Sheepshead Bay from January 20 to February 28, 1994 . With a budget estimated at 2.3 million dollars , the film in the United States played a US dollar nearly 1.1 million. It premiered on August 29, 1994 at the Venice International Film Festival , at which James Gray was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director. Little Odessa was first shown in Italy on October 28, 1994, in Germany on April 13, 1995, and in the United States on May 19, 1995.

The film title refers to the location of the film, the Brighton Beach district, which is nicknamed Little Odessa because of the many Russian restaurants and grocery stores there .

synchronization

actor German speaker role
Tim Roth Torsten Sense Joshua Shapira
Edward Furlong Alexander Brem Reuben Shapira
Maximilian Schell Erik Schumann Arkady Shapira

reception

According to the Rotten Tomatoes film website , 61 percent of the 18 film reviews examined left a positive verdict.

The lexicon of international films found that the film was a "well-dosed [...] mixture of a coherently staged gangster story and a consistently developed family tragedy".

Awards

At the 1994 Venice International Film Festival , Little Odessa was nominated for the Golden Lion . James Gray won the Silver Lion for Best Director and Vanessa Redgrave was awarded the Coppa Volpi for Best Supporting Actress. When American Film Festival 1994 James Gray was awarded the Critics' Prize.

At the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards , Little Odessa was nominated for Best Debut Film (James Gray, Paul Webster ), Best Actor ( Tim Roth ), Best Supporting Actress (Vanessa Redgrave), Best Screenplay Debut (James Gray), and Best Cinematography ( Tom Richmond ) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Little Odessa . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2003 (PDF; test number: 72 902 DVD).
  2. ↑ Little Odessa. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on March 28, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Little Odessa. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed March 28, 2014 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used