Too many ideas and stories happening in this movie.
First story - there are the two brothers - street performers - one recites Shakespere while the other is picking the pockets of the pedestrians listening to the recitation. All their efforts to steal money is absorbed and spent by the wicked alcoholic gambling addicted father. His sons want to help him but the father wants to control them for his own purposes.
Second story - there is the father full of false ideals for his children. But his gambling/alcoholic addiction has and is destroying his two sons. The father has borrowed so much money the mob wants payment. All three think the mother (who left years ago) will come back. Never happens!
Third story - one son has allied himself with a friend who has designed the perfect counterfeit money! They go on a spending and gambling spree and this alerts the mob and they want revenge. Unknown to the counterfeit whiz kid, his friend is in an affair with the whiz kid's mother!
All three of these ideas are mixed into this movie and you never feel the characters & plot reach their full potential. As soon as you get into one element of this plot another plot jumps in. I hope this review makes sense because the movie had a hard time sticking to one plot! As I'm having a hard time writing this review.
First story - there are the two brothers - street performers - one recites Shakespere while the other is picking the pockets of the pedestrians listening to the recitation. All their efforts to steal money is absorbed and spent by the wicked alcoholic gambling addicted father. His sons want to help him but the father wants to control them for his own purposes.
Second story - there is the father full of false ideals for his children. But his gambling/alcoholic addiction has and is destroying his two sons. The father has borrowed so much money the mob wants payment. All three think the mother (who left years ago) will come back. Never happens!
Third story - one son has allied himself with a friend who has designed the perfect counterfeit money! They go on a spending and gambling spree and this alerts the mob and they want revenge. Unknown to the counterfeit whiz kid, his friend is in an affair with the whiz kid's mother!
All three of these ideas are mixed into this movie and you never feel the characters & plot reach their full potential. As soon as you get into one element of this plot another plot jumps in. I hope this review makes sense because the movie had a hard time sticking to one plot! As I'm having a hard time writing this review.