Harvey Keitel takes center stage as a double-crossed crook goes for blood after a major jewel heist turns sour — and bloody. Timothy Hutton and Stephen Dorff are in on the split for one late- ’90s crime caper that’s not a stylistic hijack of Quentin Tarantino. Directed by John Irvin.
City of Industry
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1997 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date October 3, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff, Timothy Hutton, Famke Janssen, Wade Dominguez, Michael Jai White, Lucy Alexis Liu, Reno Wilson, Dana Barron, Tamara Clatterbuck, Elliott Gould.
Cinematography: Thomas Burstyn
Film Editor: Mark Conte
Special Effects: Joe Lombardi
Original Music: Stephen Endelman
Written by Ken Solarz
Produced by Evzen Kolar, Ken Solarz
Directed by John Irvin
Director John Irvin earned his right to crow early on with TV’s ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the excellent action film about mercenaries The Dogs of War.
City of Industry
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1997 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date October 3, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff, Timothy Hutton, Famke Janssen, Wade Dominguez, Michael Jai White, Lucy Alexis Liu, Reno Wilson, Dana Barron, Tamara Clatterbuck, Elliott Gould.
Cinematography: Thomas Burstyn
Film Editor: Mark Conte
Special Effects: Joe Lombardi
Original Music: Stephen Endelman
Written by Ken Solarz
Produced by Evzen Kolar, Ken Solarz
Directed by John Irvin
Director John Irvin earned his right to crow early on with TV’s ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the excellent action film about mercenaries The Dogs of War.
- 10/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Veteran film producer Evzen Kolar, whose credits include the 1997 Harvey Keitel drama “City of Industry,” has died in Los Angeles at age 67, his family announced Monday. The Czech-born filmmaker also produced the 1993 Leslie Nielsen-Rob Schneider comedy “Surf Ninjas” through his Kpi Entertainment production company and director Zalman King’s “Delta of Venus.” In addition, he produced John Avildsen’s 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie “Inferno” (a.k.a. “Desert Heat”), Bruce Beresford’s 2001 period drama “Bride of the Wind,” and John Irvin’s 2003 comedy “The Boys and Girls from County Clare” starring Colm Meaney, Bernard Hill and Andrea Corr.
- 7/17/2017
- by Thom Geier
- The Wrap
Evzen Kolar, a veteran film executive who also produced such movies as Surf Ninjas and City of Industry, has died. He was 67.
Kolar died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, publicist Jan Kean announced.
In 1993, Kolar launched the production company Kpi Entertainment, where he produced Surf Ninjas (1993), starring Rob Schneider; the Zalman King erotic drama Delta of Venus (1995); City of Industry (1997), starring Harvey Keitel and Stephen Dorff; John Avildsen's Inferno (1999), with Jean-Claude Van Damme; and the Bruce Beresford period costume drama Bride of the Wind (2001).
Kolar also produced the Samuel Goldwyn...
Kolar died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, publicist Jan Kean announced.
In 1993, Kolar launched the production company Kpi Entertainment, where he produced Surf Ninjas (1993), starring Rob Schneider; the Zalman King erotic drama Delta of Venus (1995); City of Industry (1997), starring Harvey Keitel and Stephen Dorff; John Avildsen's Inferno (1999), with Jean-Claude Van Damme; and the Bruce Beresford period costume drama Bride of the Wind (2001).
Kolar also produced the Samuel Goldwyn...
- 7/17/2017
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film producer and line producer Evzen Kolar has died in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 67. Kolar served as VP Production at Fireline Productions (a subsidiary of the Armand Hammer Company) and CEO at Crossover Films, an independent film production company based in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In that time, he was a line producer on a number of features including the Sean Connery Bond film Never Say Never Again; Street Smart, which garnered Morgan Freeman his…...
- 7/17/2017
- Deadline
Larger-than-life polyglot worked with Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery, Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Evzen Kolar, the Czech-born producer of The Boys & Girl From County Clare and City Of Industry, has died in California after a brief illness. He was 67.
Kolar was born in Moravia in the Czech Republic to a diplomat and got his first taste of entertainment as a child actor, before becoming an assistant director in Europe on commercials, television projects and features.
He lived in London in the late 1970s and produced fringe theatre before moving to the Us in 1979 where he built a name for himself as a production executive, notching up numerous line producer and producer credits.
After stints as vice-president of production at Fireline Productions, a subsidiary of the Armand Hammer Company, and CEO at Crossover Films Ent, Kolar worked as a line producer. His credits included Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery, Street Smart starring Morgan Freeman, Master Of The Universe with Dolph Lundgren...
Evzen Kolar, the Czech-born producer of The Boys & Girl From County Clare and City Of Industry, has died in California after a brief illness. He was 67.
Kolar was born in Moravia in the Czech Republic to a diplomat and got his first taste of entertainment as a child actor, before becoming an assistant director in Europe on commercials, television projects and features.
He lived in London in the late 1970s and produced fringe theatre before moving to the Us in 1979 where he built a name for himself as a production executive, notching up numerous line producer and producer credits.
After stints as vice-president of production at Fireline Productions, a subsidiary of the Armand Hammer Company, and CEO at Crossover Films Ent, Kolar worked as a line producer. His credits included Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery, Street Smart starring Morgan Freeman, Master Of The Universe with Dolph Lundgren...
- 7/14/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: The star of last weekend’s Us release Jimmy’s Hall from Ken Loach has come aboard Kpi Entertainment and Deadpan Pictures’ Ireland-set contemporary generational drama.
Evzen Kolar and Deborah Kolar of La-based Kpi Entertainment and Paul Donovan of Dublin’s Deadpan Pictures have targeted a late 2015/early 2016 start outside Dublin and in Liverpool on the sub-€4m UK-Ireland co-production.
Andrew Baird will direct Never Walk Alone from Christian O’Reilly’s screenplay that centres on three generations of men in an Irish community.
Ward (pictured in Jimmy’s Hall) will play Eamon, a man haunted by his childhood decision not to pursue trials with Liverpool Fc who pressures his talented teenage son into taking a similar opportunity.
The producers are scouting a name actor to play the estranged grandfather, whose timely return to the fold sparks a plan. Kpi and Deadpan are also reviewing potential sales agents.
Ward’s credits include Blood Cells and The...
Evzen Kolar and Deborah Kolar of La-based Kpi Entertainment and Paul Donovan of Dublin’s Deadpan Pictures have targeted a late 2015/early 2016 start outside Dublin and in Liverpool on the sub-€4m UK-Ireland co-production.
Andrew Baird will direct Never Walk Alone from Christian O’Reilly’s screenplay that centres on three generations of men in an Irish community.
Ward (pictured in Jimmy’s Hall) will play Eamon, a man haunted by his childhood decision not to pursue trials with Liverpool Fc who pressures his talented teenage son into taking a similar opportunity.
The producers are scouting a name actor to play the estranged grandfather, whose timely return to the fold sparks a plan. Kpi and Deadpan are also reviewing potential sales agents.
Ward’s credits include Blood Cells and The...
- 7/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- "The Boys From County Clare" wraps a banal story of young love and old family quarrels in the lively sights and sounds of Ceili music. This most traditional of Irish dance or party music sweeps the characters up in its happy tunes, all emanating from bands that consist of several fiddles, a flute, piano, drum, some kind of accordion and perhaps a banjo or guitar.
The characters feel drawn from life, and the actors do their best to give them sass. Although the story ultimately lets them down, the movie does allow you to mingle in the rehearsal halls, pubs and a small village where the All Ireland Traditional Music Competition takes place. Directed by John Irvin, "Boys" makes an attractive light comedy-drama that is just offbeat enough to please adult audiences hankering for something a little different.
Nicholas Adams' story takes place during the '60s, when the Liverpool sound has conquered the pop world but not the world of Ceili music. (It's pronounced "KAY-lee".) The annual Ceili competition sets the stage for a reunion of two estranged brothers, who haven't seen each other in 20-odd years.
Dapper yet still driven Jimmy MacMahon (Colm Meaney), who left County Clare for success, fine threads and multiple wives in Liverpool, aims to return home with his English band to snatch the trophy away from a band headed by his older brother, John Joe Bernard Hill). A lifelong bachelor who stayed behind on the family farm, John Joe has no intention of letting this happen. Mind you, each brother is more than willing to stoop to sabotage to keep the other from attending.
Despite their worst intentions, both wind up in a small west Irish village that nearly doubles in size to accommodate all the bands and musicians. Some, such as the English lads and a hippie couple, pitch camp by the beach. When Jimmy's flute player, Teddy (Shaun Evans), falls in love at first sight with John Joe's fiddle player, Anne (Andrea Corr), all hell breaks loose.
Only now -- and rather implausibly -- does Anne's overprotective mother, Maisie (Charlotte Bradley), the Irish band's piano player, tell her daughter that Jimmy is her long-lost father. This is a shaky plot device that forces first-time screenwriter Adams to concoct a series of confrontations that will lead to snappy resolutions of a lifetime of grief and resentment. Fortunately, the music frequently interrupts the melodrama, and the romance between the two musicians keeps the movie cheerful.
Meaney and Hill play the feuding brothers as a study in contrasts -- one flashy and insincere and the other stolid and reserved. Yet each is passionate about the music. Corr, lead singer of Irish pop band the Corrs, has a charm and sweet gentleness onscreen, though the depth of her acting ability is hard to gauge from this role.
Bradley must play the same note of shrill bitterness throughout, which robs her of a complexity that might have made Maisie a more touching character. Evans is convincing in his puppy-dog devotion to his new love, just as Philip Barantini, playing his buddy Alex, is convincing in his pursuit of female contestants for recreational purposes.
Shot, interestingly enough, not in Ireland but Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, "Boys" benefits from cinematographer Thomas Burstyn's warm, romantic lighting and the true Irish grit supplied by designer Tom McCullagh, who makes the small town's narrow streets and crowded pubs brim with life as musicians celebrate the glory of their music. Composer Fiachra Trench and Scott Gorham, lead guitarist with the rock band Thin Lizzy, supply a spirited Irish score combined with music from the period.
THE BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE
First Look Media presents a Studio Hamburg Worldwide Pictures production in association with the Isle of Mann Commission, TPC and Kolar/Rufus Isaacs
Credits:
Director: John Irvin
Screenwriter: Nicholas Adams
Producers: Evzen Kolar, Wolfgang Esenwein, Ellen Little
Executive producers: Anthony Rufus Isaacs, Martyn Auty, Steve Christian, David Korda, Jim Reeve, Dieter Stempnierwsky, Bill Kenwright
Director of photography: Thomas Burstyn
Production designer: Tom McCullagh
Music: Fiachra Trench
Costume designer: Hazel Webb-Crozier
Editor: Ian Crafford
Cast:
Jimmy: Colm Meaney
John Joe: Bernard Hill
Anne: Andrea Corr
Teddy: Shaun Evans
Alex: Philip Barantini
Maisie: Charlotte Bradley
Padjo: Patrick Bergin
Bernie: Catherine Byrne
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- "The Boys From County Clare" wraps a banal story of young love and old family quarrels in the lively sights and sounds of Ceili music. This most traditional of Irish dance or party music sweeps the characters up in its happy tunes, all emanating from bands that consist of several fiddles, a flute, piano, drum, some kind of accordion and perhaps a banjo or guitar.
The characters feel drawn from life, and the actors do their best to give them sass. Although the story ultimately lets them down, the movie does allow you to mingle in the rehearsal halls, pubs and a small village where the All Ireland Traditional Music Competition takes place. Directed by John Irvin, "Boys" makes an attractive light comedy-drama that is just offbeat enough to please adult audiences hankering for something a little different.
Nicholas Adams' story takes place during the '60s, when the Liverpool sound has conquered the pop world but not the world of Ceili music. (It's pronounced "KAY-lee".) The annual Ceili competition sets the stage for a reunion of two estranged brothers, who haven't seen each other in 20-odd years.
Dapper yet still driven Jimmy MacMahon (Colm Meaney), who left County Clare for success, fine threads and multiple wives in Liverpool, aims to return home with his English band to snatch the trophy away from a band headed by his older brother, John Joe Bernard Hill). A lifelong bachelor who stayed behind on the family farm, John Joe has no intention of letting this happen. Mind you, each brother is more than willing to stoop to sabotage to keep the other from attending.
Despite their worst intentions, both wind up in a small west Irish village that nearly doubles in size to accommodate all the bands and musicians. Some, such as the English lads and a hippie couple, pitch camp by the beach. When Jimmy's flute player, Teddy (Shaun Evans), falls in love at first sight with John Joe's fiddle player, Anne (Andrea Corr), all hell breaks loose.
Only now -- and rather implausibly -- does Anne's overprotective mother, Maisie (Charlotte Bradley), the Irish band's piano player, tell her daughter that Jimmy is her long-lost father. This is a shaky plot device that forces first-time screenwriter Adams to concoct a series of confrontations that will lead to snappy resolutions of a lifetime of grief and resentment. Fortunately, the music frequently interrupts the melodrama, and the romance between the two musicians keeps the movie cheerful.
Meaney and Hill play the feuding brothers as a study in contrasts -- one flashy and insincere and the other stolid and reserved. Yet each is passionate about the music. Corr, lead singer of Irish pop band the Corrs, has a charm and sweet gentleness onscreen, though the depth of her acting ability is hard to gauge from this role.
Bradley must play the same note of shrill bitterness throughout, which robs her of a complexity that might have made Maisie a more touching character. Evans is convincing in his puppy-dog devotion to his new love, just as Philip Barantini, playing his buddy Alex, is convincing in his pursuit of female contestants for recreational purposes.
Shot, interestingly enough, not in Ireland but Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, "Boys" benefits from cinematographer Thomas Burstyn's warm, romantic lighting and the true Irish grit supplied by designer Tom McCullagh, who makes the small town's narrow streets and crowded pubs brim with life as musicians celebrate the glory of their music. Composer Fiachra Trench and Scott Gorham, lead guitarist with the rock band Thin Lizzy, supply a spirited Irish score combined with music from the period.
THE BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE
First Look Media presents a Studio Hamburg Worldwide Pictures production in association with the Isle of Mann Commission, TPC and Kolar/Rufus Isaacs
Credits:
Director: John Irvin
Screenwriter: Nicholas Adams
Producers: Evzen Kolar, Wolfgang Esenwein, Ellen Little
Executive producers: Anthony Rufus Isaacs, Martyn Auty, Steve Christian, David Korda, Jim Reeve, Dieter Stempnierwsky, Bill Kenwright
Director of photography: Thomas Burstyn
Production designer: Tom McCullagh
Music: Fiachra Trench
Costume designer: Hazel Webb-Crozier
Editor: Ian Crafford
Cast:
Jimmy: Colm Meaney
John Joe: Bernard Hill
Anne: Andrea Corr
Teddy: Shaun Evans
Alex: Philip Barantini
Maisie: Charlotte Bradley
Padjo: Patrick Bergin
Bernie: Catherine Byrne
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- "The Boys From County Clare" wraps a banal story of young love and old family quarrels in the lively sights and sounds of Ceili music. This most traditional of Irish dance or party music sweeps the characters up in its happy tunes, all emanating from bands that consist of several fiddles, a flute, piano, drum, some kind of accordion and perhaps a banjo or guitar.
The characters feel drawn from life, and the actors do their best to give them sass. Although the story ultimately lets them down, the movie does allow you to mingle in the rehearsal halls, pubs and a small village where the All Ireland Traditional Music Competition takes place. Directed by John Irvin, "Boys" makes an attractive light comedy-drama that is just offbeat enough to please adult audiences hankering for something a little different.
Nicholas Adams' story takes place during the '60s, when the Liverpool sound has conquered the pop world but not the world of Ceili music. (It's pronounced "KAY-lee".) The annual Ceili competition sets the stage for a reunion of two estranged brothers, who haven't seen each other in 20-odd years.
Dapper yet still driven Jimmy MacMahon (Colm Meaney), who left County Clare for success, fine threads and multiple wives in Liverpool, aims to return home with his English band to snatch the trophy away from a band headed by his older brother, John Joe Bernard Hill). A lifelong bachelor who stayed behind on the family farm, John Joe has no intention of letting this happen. Mind you, each brother is more than willing to stoop to sabotage to keep the other from attending.
Despite their worst intentions, both wind up in a small west Irish village that nearly doubles in size to accommodate all the bands and musicians. Some, such as the English lads and a hippie couple, pitch camp by the beach. When Jimmy's flute player, Teddy (Shaun Evans), falls in love at first sight with John Joe's fiddle player, Anne (Andrea Corr), all hell breaks loose.
Only now -- and rather implausibly -- does Anne's overprotective mother, Maisie (Charlotte Bradley), the Irish band's piano player, tell her daughter that Jimmy is her long-lost father. This is a shaky plot device that forces first-time screenwriter Adams to concoct a series of confrontations that will lead to snappy resolutions of a lifetime of grief and resentment. Fortunately, the music frequently interrupts the melodrama, and the romance between the two musicians keeps the movie cheerful.
Meaney and Hill play the feuding brothers as a study in contrasts -- one flashy and insincere and the other stolid and reserved. Yet each is passionate about the music. Corr, lead singer of Irish pop band the Corrs, has a charm and sweet gentleness onscreen, though the depth of her acting ability is hard to gauge from this role.
Bradley must play the same note of shrill bitterness throughout, which robs her of a complexity that might have made Maisie a more touching character. Evans is convincing in his puppy-dog devotion to his new love, just as Philip Barantini, playing his buddy Alex, is convincing in his pursuit of female contestants for recreational purposes.
Shot, interestingly enough, not in Ireland but Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, "Boys" benefits from cinematographer Thomas Burstyn's warm, romantic lighting and the true Irish grit supplied by designer Tom McCullagh, who makes the small town's narrow streets and crowded pubs brim with life as musicians celebrate the glory of their music. Composer Fiachra Trench and Scott Gorham, lead guitarist with the rock band Thin Lizzy, supply a spirited Irish score combined with music from the period.
THE BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE
First Look Media presents a Studio Hamburg Worldwide Pictures production in association with the Isle of Mann Commission, TPC and Kolar/Rufus Isaacs
Credits:
Director: John Irvin
Screenwriter: Nicholas Adams
Producers: Evzen Kolar, Wolfgang Esenwein, Ellen Little
Executive producers: Anthony Rufus Isaacs, Martyn Auty, Steve Christian, David Korda, Jim Reeve, Dieter Stempnierwsky, Bill Kenwright
Director of photography: Thomas Burstyn
Production designer: Tom McCullagh
Music: Fiachra Trench
Costume designer: Hazel Webb-Crozier
Editor: Ian Crafford
Cast:
Jimmy: Colm Meaney
John Joe: Bernard Hill
Anne: Andrea Corr
Teddy: Shaun Evans
Alex: Philip Barantini
Maisie: Charlotte Bradley
Padjo: Patrick Bergin
Bernie: Catherine Byrne
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- "The Boys From County Clare" wraps a banal story of young love and old family quarrels in the lively sights and sounds of Ceili music. This most traditional of Irish dance or party music sweeps the characters up in its happy tunes, all emanating from bands that consist of several fiddles, a flute, piano, drum, some kind of accordion and perhaps a banjo or guitar.
The characters feel drawn from life, and the actors do their best to give them sass. Although the story ultimately lets them down, the movie does allow you to mingle in the rehearsal halls, pubs and a small village where the All Ireland Traditional Music Competition takes place. Directed by John Irvin, "Boys" makes an attractive light comedy-drama that is just offbeat enough to please adult audiences hankering for something a little different.
Nicholas Adams' story takes place during the '60s, when the Liverpool sound has conquered the pop world but not the world of Ceili music. (It's pronounced "KAY-lee".) The annual Ceili competition sets the stage for a reunion of two estranged brothers, who haven't seen each other in 20-odd years.
Dapper yet still driven Jimmy MacMahon (Colm Meaney), who left County Clare for success, fine threads and multiple wives in Liverpool, aims to return home with his English band to snatch the trophy away from a band headed by his older brother, John Joe Bernard Hill). A lifelong bachelor who stayed behind on the family farm, John Joe has no intention of letting this happen. Mind you, each brother is more than willing to stoop to sabotage to keep the other from attending.
Despite their worst intentions, both wind up in a small west Irish village that nearly doubles in size to accommodate all the bands and musicians. Some, such as the English lads and a hippie couple, pitch camp by the beach. When Jimmy's flute player, Teddy (Shaun Evans), falls in love at first sight with John Joe's fiddle player, Anne (Andrea Corr), all hell breaks loose.
Only now -- and rather implausibly -- does Anne's overprotective mother, Maisie (Charlotte Bradley), the Irish band's piano player, tell her daughter that Jimmy is her long-lost father. This is a shaky plot device that forces first-time screenwriter Adams to concoct a series of confrontations that will lead to snappy resolutions of a lifetime of grief and resentment. Fortunately, the music frequently interrupts the melodrama, and the romance between the two musicians keeps the movie cheerful.
Meaney and Hill play the feuding brothers as a study in contrasts -- one flashy and insincere and the other stolid and reserved. Yet each is passionate about the music. Corr, lead singer of Irish pop band the Corrs, has a charm and sweet gentleness onscreen, though the depth of her acting ability is hard to gauge from this role.
Bradley must play the same note of shrill bitterness throughout, which robs her of a complexity that might have made Maisie a more touching character. Evans is convincing in his puppy-dog devotion to his new love, just as Philip Barantini, playing his buddy Alex, is convincing in his pursuit of female contestants for recreational purposes.
Shot, interestingly enough, not in Ireland but Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, "Boys" benefits from cinematographer Thomas Burstyn's warm, romantic lighting and the true Irish grit supplied by designer Tom McCullagh, who makes the small town's narrow streets and crowded pubs brim with life as musicians celebrate the glory of their music. Composer Fiachra Trench and Scott Gorham, lead guitarist with the rock band Thin Lizzy, supply a spirited Irish score combined with music from the period.
THE BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE
First Look Media presents a Studio Hamburg Worldwide Pictures production in association with the Isle of Mann Commission, TPC and Kolar/Rufus Isaacs
Credits:
Director: John Irvin
Screenwriter: Nicholas Adams
Producers: Evzen Kolar, Wolfgang Esenwein, Ellen Little
Executive producers: Anthony Rufus Isaacs, Martyn Auty, Steve Christian, David Korda, Jim Reeve, Dieter Stempnierwsky, Bill Kenwright
Director of photography: Thomas Burstyn
Production designer: Tom McCullagh
Music: Fiachra Trench
Costume designer: Hazel Webb-Crozier
Editor: Ian Crafford
Cast:
Jimmy: Colm Meaney
John Joe: Bernard Hill
Anne: Andrea Corr
Teddy: Shaun Evans
Alex: Philip Barantini
Maisie: Charlotte Bradley
Padjo: Patrick Bergin
Bernie: Catherine Byrne
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/15/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Beyond a few mildly entertaining plot twists, a good cast and a standout sequence or two, "City of Industry" is a competent, engaging film noir but hardly memorable once the curtain falls on another bad trip into the Los Angeles underworld.
Veteran director John Irvin ("A Month by the Lake", TNT's "Crazy Horse") and screenwriter Ken Solarz ("Miami Vice", "Crime Story") shoot for neorealism and a whirlwind tour of Southern California 'hoods, giving the Orion Pictures' release a slight foothold above the many recent genre retreads that have failed to win over audiences.
The film has characters with some -- but not too much -- depth and a pleasingly looser feeling than such mind-benders as the tightly constructed "The Usual Suspects". One comes to care for the scrambling antiheroes, but the scenario walks a thin line between westernlike hokum and homage to the many classic cinematic renditions of lowlife losers with guns and gusto for the criminal life.
Harvey Keitel is once again the backbone of a film that otherwise might fall apart. Joined by Stephen Dorff and Famke Janssen as nemesis and ally, respectively, Keitel plays a career con man with the painful struggle of his life etched on his face. His conscience and morality are wasted on the new generation of tough guys, however, as he soon finds out.
Roy (Keitel) is recruited by his younger brother Lee (Timothy Hutton) to help rob a Palm Springs jewelry store. The quartet for the job, which could net millions, includes prison-bound probationer Jorge Wade Dominguez) and wheelman Skip (Dorff).
After his introduction buying guns from black marketers (including Michael Jai White and Reno Wilson), Skip is easily identified as the baddest element among bad men. After the successful heist, which is not without several tense moments, he shoots up his partners in a trailer and makes off with the loot.
Roy barely escapes and then seeks revenge against Skip, hooking up eventually with Jorge's wife (Janssen). In one of several scenes in which characters say something unexpected, she agrees to help Roy find Skip if she gets a big chunk of the money.
Indeed, the film provides momentary amusement with this tactic, but the result is still the same. Roy goes on a manhunt that takes him into Chinatown and Azusa. Several opponents are done away with by an exploding propane tank at a sleazy motel, and Roy miraculously escapes assassins when he's bound in the back seat of their car.
While Keitel's blood pressure seems to be almost off the dial as he broods and takes on the role of an avenging samurai (with enough honor to keep Janssen out of harm's way when possible), Dorff has his share of scary moments as the wiry sociopath Skip, a scavenger and carnivore who ends up ranting and making mistakes like every villain in such circumstances.
Filmed at many familiar locales (the L.A. River, Elysian Park, the old oil refinery in Santa Fe Springs used in "White Heat") and unfamiliar but generic locations, "City of Industry" is solid in all its technical aspects.
CITY OF INDUSTRY
Orion Pictures
Largo Entertainment
An Evzen Kolar production
A film by John Irvin
Director John Irvin
Producers Evzen Kolar, Ken Solarz
Writer Ken Solarz
Executive producer Barr Potter
Director of photography Thomas Burstyn
Music Stephen Endelman
Production designer Michael Novotny
Editor Mark Conte
Costume designer Eduardo Castro
Casting Henderson/Zuckerman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Roy Harvey Keitel
Skip Stephen Dorff
Lee Timothy Hutton
Rachel Famke Janssen
Jorge Wade Dominguez
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Veteran director John Irvin ("A Month by the Lake", TNT's "Crazy Horse") and screenwriter Ken Solarz ("Miami Vice", "Crime Story") shoot for neorealism and a whirlwind tour of Southern California 'hoods, giving the Orion Pictures' release a slight foothold above the many recent genre retreads that have failed to win over audiences.
The film has characters with some -- but not too much -- depth and a pleasingly looser feeling than such mind-benders as the tightly constructed "The Usual Suspects". One comes to care for the scrambling antiheroes, but the scenario walks a thin line between westernlike hokum and homage to the many classic cinematic renditions of lowlife losers with guns and gusto for the criminal life.
Harvey Keitel is once again the backbone of a film that otherwise might fall apart. Joined by Stephen Dorff and Famke Janssen as nemesis and ally, respectively, Keitel plays a career con man with the painful struggle of his life etched on his face. His conscience and morality are wasted on the new generation of tough guys, however, as he soon finds out.
Roy (Keitel) is recruited by his younger brother Lee (Timothy Hutton) to help rob a Palm Springs jewelry store. The quartet for the job, which could net millions, includes prison-bound probationer Jorge Wade Dominguez) and wheelman Skip (Dorff).
After his introduction buying guns from black marketers (including Michael Jai White and Reno Wilson), Skip is easily identified as the baddest element among bad men. After the successful heist, which is not without several tense moments, he shoots up his partners in a trailer and makes off with the loot.
Roy barely escapes and then seeks revenge against Skip, hooking up eventually with Jorge's wife (Janssen). In one of several scenes in which characters say something unexpected, she agrees to help Roy find Skip if she gets a big chunk of the money.
Indeed, the film provides momentary amusement with this tactic, but the result is still the same. Roy goes on a manhunt that takes him into Chinatown and Azusa. Several opponents are done away with by an exploding propane tank at a sleazy motel, and Roy miraculously escapes assassins when he's bound in the back seat of their car.
While Keitel's blood pressure seems to be almost off the dial as he broods and takes on the role of an avenging samurai (with enough honor to keep Janssen out of harm's way when possible), Dorff has his share of scary moments as the wiry sociopath Skip, a scavenger and carnivore who ends up ranting and making mistakes like every villain in such circumstances.
Filmed at many familiar locales (the L.A. River, Elysian Park, the old oil refinery in Santa Fe Springs used in "White Heat") and unfamiliar but generic locations, "City of Industry" is solid in all its technical aspects.
CITY OF INDUSTRY
Orion Pictures
Largo Entertainment
An Evzen Kolar production
A film by John Irvin
Director John Irvin
Producers Evzen Kolar, Ken Solarz
Writer Ken Solarz
Executive producer Barr Potter
Director of photography Thomas Burstyn
Music Stephen Endelman
Production designer Michael Novotny
Editor Mark Conte
Costume designer Eduardo Castro
Casting Henderson/Zuckerman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Roy Harvey Keitel
Skip Stephen Dorff
Lee Timothy Hutton
Rachel Famke Janssen
Jorge Wade Dominguez
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.