To save everyone time let me start out and tell you that this is in no way a revenge or vigilante movie. There is no violence, there is not much in the way of plot, there is no excitement or action. There is a little bit of boobies for like 60 seconds if that's your thing. This is an art house film, so be warned.
This was an odd movie to get all the way through for me, not because it's necessarily bad, but it's not "good" either because it really doesn't have a story or plot line. It is shot in a very gritty way that showcases both the beauty and griminess of New York. I've only been to NY state once and went through the various boroughs and they really do have a beauty to them, older architecture, mom and pop shops everywhere, it's alive and crawling with people. And rats. And pigeons. Because there's also the ugly side, trash everywhere, it stinks, it's noisy, the people are jerks...I hated NY city. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate it.
And that's really a large part of this movie, the pros and the cons of life there. It's about how class warfare affects those at the bottom, about what happens to them when their neighborhood is bulldozed so an expensive high-rise complex can move in, displacing all the previous inhabitants. It's about immigrants moving into the middle of this and feeling out of place, trying to figure out where they fit in. This is not told through any sort of story, it's 90% atmosphere with a speech sort of explaining the heart of the issue near the end of the film. This is all told through the experiences of essentially 3 people, the displaced, the immigrant, and the wealthy real-estate mogul.
So if you like movies based entirely around atmosphere, long sweeping shots of city life, long silences and moments of brooding, give it a shot. The main performances were above average in general (couple poorly delivered lines here and there), the direction and cinematography is excellent...but it's a bit boring and feels aimless. I wouldn't recommend it to the average individual.
