Just let me tell you how happy I was to see a film that featured Italian- Americans that weren't gun-crazed New York mobsters, slick Vegas casino bosses, or Jersey kids that spend their nights at discos. I can only imagine how the everyday Italian-American feels going to movies to see only stereotypical images of themselves over and over again. That's only one reason that I thoroughly enjoyed "The Streetsweeper." It was about real Italian-Americans, the type you might meet at a market in San Diego's Little Italy (where this film was shot); welcoming, warmhearted folks. If you're Italian-American, I urge you to see this film. You will not be disappointed! PS I'm Irish-American!
4 Reviews
A new Director, James Hill, emerges and finds Broadway gem, Paul Michael
filmkritik1@aol.com24 June 2003
Rarely have I so enjoyed being emotionally ripped to pieces as I was in this totally unpredictable drama, "The Streetsweeper." According to bio info distributed at the film's premiere James Hill is the chap we read about several years ago trying to re-make the Gary Cooper classic, The Fountainhead for Warner Bros. The Ayn Rand tome was not a hit with left wing Hollywood, so Hill had to show us that he had the guts and skill to make the film his way. Thus, he conceived, wrote, produced and directed The Streetsweeeper for under a million dollars as proof positive that he is the new talent to be reckoned withn in tinsle town. This totally incredible masterpiece in filmmaking brings me back to the pre-Scorsese era where the talent was on the screen, not in the pre-release spin. That no distributor has signed onto this film yet, is a sure sign that it is light years over the heads of the formula addicted Hollywood types. Yet, it seems "right on" with the diversified audiences of young and old I have seen exit this gem. Some prescient distrib will bite the bullet soon as they see the exit interviews and that will be the the headline grabber for this year's come from behind winner. The review at "boxoffice.com" first alerted me to Hill, and his star Paul Michael, who at 76, is a sure bet for Golden Globe and Oscar noms. So someone other than me, gets it. Right now, the only one making money on The Streetsweeeper is Kleenex, but that is about to change. P.S. - Half of the audience tears in my two screenings came from men!!)
Did I enjoy it?... a qualified yes. - Spoilers!!
JacquiQ29 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
BTW, the whole movie takes place within a few days.
MOST of it was very predictable. Man gives up everything to put his son thru Harvard. Father sings opera constantly (and poorly, IMHO) and is loudly loved by everyone who knows him... Son thinks he won a scholarship for Harvard and is disdainful of the father who won't(can't) send him extra money and is rude to him. Even when the ingrate son treats him poorly, father puts on a happy face and pretends everything is wonderful.
Son later finds out how much father has done for him and suddenly becomes a "good loving son" again. Father, son, and son's girlfriend all tour San Diego (where father lives) having a lovely time. This is filmed like a tourism ad. After son is nice to him again, the father is joyous. Everyone is happy. This is the first 3/4 of the movie and how it's presented... Yawn.
Then, on a nice sunny day, and in front of the girlfriend, the now happy loving son is suddenly murdered for no reason by a nutso-homeless person. And the movie changes!! It becomes interesting (in a very bizarre way)...
The now bonkers father driving the Streetsweeper and going after Homeless People is strange and QUITE FUNNY. Those scenes and the "many Streetsweepers vs the police" bits are unlike anything I've ever seen. For a moment seems that it is becoming a Troma movie... but no such luck.
So, did I enjoy it..? a qualified yes. It spent so much time being a boringly predictable, sophomorically presented drama. Then it had the wonderful, unexpected change to a bizarre slapstick comedy... It was like watching a different movie.
Is it memorable? The latter part is, absolutely!!
Would I recommend it? Well... we saw it as a free preview. And that seems to be about the right price.
MOST of it was very predictable. Man gives up everything to put his son thru Harvard. Father sings opera constantly (and poorly, IMHO) and is loudly loved by everyone who knows him... Son thinks he won a scholarship for Harvard and is disdainful of the father who won't(can't) send him extra money and is rude to him. Even when the ingrate son treats him poorly, father puts on a happy face and pretends everything is wonderful.
Son later finds out how much father has done for him and suddenly becomes a "good loving son" again. Father, son, and son's girlfriend all tour San Diego (where father lives) having a lovely time. This is filmed like a tourism ad. After son is nice to him again, the father is joyous. Everyone is happy. This is the first 3/4 of the movie and how it's presented... Yawn.
Then, on a nice sunny day, and in front of the girlfriend, the now happy loving son is suddenly murdered for no reason by a nutso-homeless person. And the movie changes!! It becomes interesting (in a very bizarre way)...
The now bonkers father driving the Streetsweeper and going after Homeless People is strange and QUITE FUNNY. Those scenes and the "many Streetsweepers vs the police" bits are unlike anything I've ever seen. For a moment seems that it is becoming a Troma movie... but no such luck.
So, did I enjoy it..? a qualified yes. It spent so much time being a boringly predictable, sophomorically presented drama. Then it had the wonderful, unexpected change to a bizarre slapstick comedy... It was like watching a different movie.
Is it memorable? The latter part is, absolutely!!
Would I recommend it? Well... we saw it as a free preview. And that seems to be about the right price.
Che Disgrazia
jcbcritique5 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
* * May Contain Possible Spoilers * * Where to begin . . .
First of all, there is the architecture of the plot itself. It begins as a moderately maudlin tearjerker about a father-son relationship that has, like most, cooled over the years. Nothing special yet -- things start to warm up, however, with the random (and really not that usual in San Diego) killing of the son by a homeless guy. The father's reaction, and its depiction, descend through levels of Schwarzneggerian bravado cliché, eventually to arrive at a denouement of Keystone Cops-like farce. Were the ending intentionally comedic, the laugh-quotient could not be greater.
Further objections -- the lead role, Enzo, supposedly a retired opera star, is played by song-and-dance man Paul Michael. While Michael's voice is not completely unacceptable, it is thoroughly overmatched by the repertoire the Enzo character is supposed to be at home with. That is, French and Italian grand opera, stuff like Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers," Verdi, Donizetti, et alli. When Michael takes a stab at the Duet from Bizet's opera, the Enzo character loses nearly all credibility.
The acting, and writing, as a whole, are disastrous. Furthermore, the conceit of San Diego's "homeless" problem has completely lost any currency. The homeless were no longer living where James Hill thinks they were, even at the time he was making this movie.
Lastly, there is a bit of condescension toward and stereotyping of Italians, which is at its worst when the son character Joey, describing his father's passion for cheese, speaks the following lines: "My father really loves cheese. Cheese-a, cheese-a."
James Hill apparently is of Italian ancestry, although he must not be an Italian from San Diego. This is obvious from the fact that the son character's funeral is done at St. Joseph's Cathedral. Any San Diegan of Italian extract -- especially the son of the serious immigrant-type like Enzo -- would be buried out of Our Lady Of the Rosary, across town. That's a bit niggling, I realize, but artistic truth is an assemblage of just such detail.
First of all, there is the architecture of the plot itself. It begins as a moderately maudlin tearjerker about a father-son relationship that has, like most, cooled over the years. Nothing special yet -- things start to warm up, however, with the random (and really not that usual in San Diego) killing of the son by a homeless guy. The father's reaction, and its depiction, descend through levels of Schwarzneggerian bravado cliché, eventually to arrive at a denouement of Keystone Cops-like farce. Were the ending intentionally comedic, the laugh-quotient could not be greater.
Further objections -- the lead role, Enzo, supposedly a retired opera star, is played by song-and-dance man Paul Michael. While Michael's voice is not completely unacceptable, it is thoroughly overmatched by the repertoire the Enzo character is supposed to be at home with. That is, French and Italian grand opera, stuff like Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers," Verdi, Donizetti, et alli. When Michael takes a stab at the Duet from Bizet's opera, the Enzo character loses nearly all credibility.
The acting, and writing, as a whole, are disastrous. Furthermore, the conceit of San Diego's "homeless" problem has completely lost any currency. The homeless were no longer living where James Hill thinks they were, even at the time he was making this movie.
Lastly, there is a bit of condescension toward and stereotyping of Italians, which is at its worst when the son character Joey, describing his father's passion for cheese, speaks the following lines: "My father really loves cheese. Cheese-a, cheese-a."
James Hill apparently is of Italian ancestry, although he must not be an Italian from San Diego. This is obvious from the fact that the son character's funeral is done at St. Joseph's Cathedral. Any San Diegan of Italian extract -- especially the son of the serious immigrant-type like Enzo -- would be buried out of Our Lady Of the Rosary, across town. That's a bit niggling, I realize, but artistic truth is an assemblage of just such detail.
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