Once Upon a Time in Queens

I admit I saw the Once upon aaa. title, then the cast, and assumed it was the same old... But with a spare afternoon, what the heck. How wrong could I be!! Simple, different, and strangely touching. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and reaffirmed the life lesson, don't assume anything.

A very mild gangster film but interesting drama. Despite not being a typical mafia movie I found it realistic and true to life. An ageing gangster is released from jail and is subject to strict conditions to keep his freedom. He has to deal with issues as the world has changed. There was a good story with his daughter who played a really good role. It also had a great cast and some old familiar faces such as Johnny roast beef from goodfellas. All in all a chilled out mafia melodrama which I found surprisingly enjoyable.

Paul Sorvino plays an aging mobster released from jail after two long decades and earnestly struggles to find his place amidst a rapidly changing world. This isn't a gangster movie per say, it's not even Good Fellas in a retirement home, it's more of a retrospective character piece of what an aging mobster ripped from the pillars of power and left to be mostly forgotten would subsequently face when released after so long. And I guess it begs the question in all of its soul searching and kitschy "east coast neighborhood" dialogue was this move absolutely necessary? Sorvino and Rappaport certainly play their roles well but the movie feels like it's operating in some sort of invisible sandbox that unfortunately only superficially scratches the surface of its characters, leaving us with a fairly empty feeling after it's all over. One can't help but ask what was the point exactly? The largest character arcs are written and served on a convenient platter rather than developed organically. It's certainly a different take on the gangster movie and the refreshing aspect of that point ends right there, what it doesn't do is reinvent the character study, slogging along tiredly trying to find footing somewhere. If the directors point was to give us hyper realism then it certainly beats watching someone vaccum for 90 minutes, but I think the main point is lost somewhere in another movie. So you can't teach an old dog new tricks and criminals don't change...the end. It's not completely far fetched to understand that older adults who leave prison are certainly disenfranchised, thrust into a brave new world thats busy with distraction. But Shawshank Redemption did this concept better in 15 minutes than this could do in 90. It's not a horrible movie by any regard but it's certainly missing that something to set it apart.

Who the heck wrote this garbage? So boring, the opposite of what a gangster movie. People watch gangsta movies to see gangstas not alphabet people apologetics. Turned it off as soon as the daughter came out, just another preachy woke movie.

This film really captures the pace of life in Queen; I lived there for over 20 years. The pace is slow; very little ever happens of any importance in Queens. The film captures that inertia and the day to day ho-hum existence that one can feel by living in a place like Maspeth. I taught in Flushing and lived in Hollis, but it is pretty much the same all over Queens. You are what you do for a living.

Paul Sorvino does a nice job as a former mafia boss who is bored to death in his new role as a former mafia boss, and trying to reconcile with his daughter and next door neighbor. The supporting cast is fine, as is the script. If you are going to this film to see mob action or some type of super hood, you will be disappointed. But in the end, Sorvino nails it.