Dentro la grande mela

Turturro plays a brutal psycho released from prison, and Foster plays the woman in peril. Neither is really pressed hard here, therefore.

Robbins plays a guy who protected Foster before, but who is volunteering to go south to help the rights of blacks in the south, being inspired by Martin Luther King (this being a period drama). Foster also has a boyfriend who was crippled by Turturro when she was attacked.

Turturro has a weird gift for Foster, and there's a teacher who inexplicably gets shot by an arrow. Meanwhile, there's a pair of guys who are paid to look after two glue-sniffing. And there's a pair of cops and so on...

A strange drama with moments of comedy that don't really fit in comfortably. Seems more like an awkward play awkwardly made into a film.

It's 1964 The Bronx. Violent Heinz (John Turturro) returns to his neighborhood after getting out of prison for an attempted rape of Linda (Jodie Foster). Harry (Tim Robbins) rescued Linda the first time but has turn pacifist since then. Somebody shoots a teacher with an arrow. Castro and Willie are two kids blowing up a store sign with cherry bombs. They pick up Melanie and Brita who are out of it from sniffing glue. Heinz is after Linda again thinking he's in love with her. Jamie would like to be her boyfriend who protects her.

This movie is split in two. Turturro, Foster and Robbins inhabit one half. Turturro is great as the disturbed rapist. The penguins are weird. The acting is good but the script meanders a bit with a lot of strange turns. The other half has four lesser known actors. The girls are funny. It's odd that it seems to float on the surface of the movie without connecting to the other half. I do find the unknown actors' story interesting especially the elevator scene. I kept wondering what that story has to do with anything. The final reveal satisfied me to some extent. I wish it could have made more connections earlier in the movie.

I came across this film on sale, and purchased it because I saw the leading roles- Jodie Foster and Tim Robbins, before they really got famous, and I was surprised at how well the movie was done. Set in the 60s, Five Corners rings true with tone and mood of the times. Plot is straightfoward and even mildly believable, but what the film's shining aspect is its portrayal of human emotions- its very clean, raw look at the fundamental of social interaction.

Listen to Jamie's cries at his abducted girlfriend through the steel subway bars. Feel his pain as he scratches for the just-beyond-reach token. Though seemingly one dimensional at first, Heinz is a complex, tortured character with roots (albeit predictably) from youth and upbringing.

The film belies its innocent appearance with a few unexpected flashes of violence, yet maintains a positive feel with occaisional punchlines. Another surprise is Eriq La Salle, who plays a commanding role in the film's racial commentary. (Look for his surgeonesque brusque manner in his pre-Benton, MD role.)

All together with a mysterious archer vigilante (?) in the midst and cute penguins mucking about, this film is worthy of your time if you have some extra.

Verdict for a five dollar DVD? A+ simply on the Beatles tune alone.

This film is a little gem. A very good quirky understated drama. The story is well-developed, reasonably believable, and directed quite nicely. The story is set in a New York neighborhood in the time period of early 60s - both aspects are portrayed well in the film - realistic and believable but not so hammed up as to come across as phony. The acting is superb. Tarturro is great - plays the part of a local psycho bully very well - quite edgy and frightening but not over-the-top. Both Jodie Foster and Tim Robbins also do really well in this movie and is probably the best of that time period (the 80s) for either actor. Would recommend the movie for anyone looking for a good drama or for a movie with some social commentary that does not overwhelm the story.

Not worth going out of your way to see, but worth keeping on if it comes on on TV. Will provide mild pleasure to fans of Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, and John Turturro (I enjoy all three). It would be interesting to watch this back-to-back with "Barton Fink", in which Turturro plays a polar opposite character.

The only other thing I have to say is that the score of this movie is one of the worst I've ever heard. I hadn't heard of composer James Newton Howard when I saw this, so I'm amazed he went on to respectable and (to my remembrance) perfectly well-scored films like "Pretty Woman", "My Girl", "Glengarry Glen Ross", "The Sixth Sense", and "Dinosaur".

His score in this film is so melodramatic, so overstated, so overly "hit-happy" (in the sense of hitting marks), and so cheesily realized, I'm amazed Howard wasn't relegated to scoring cheeseball B-flicks.