As seen at the
2007 San Diego Film Festival:
Alfredo De
Villa’s Adrift in Manhattan offers viewers an entirely
conventional story, but is convincing and well-made enough to
prove itself worthwhile. The film follows the lives of three
emotionally-stinted souls lost in the shuffle of the daunting
New York City-setting that surrounds them. Primary among said
souls is Simon Colon (Victor Rasuk), a twenty-year-old who still
lives with his mother (Marlene Forte). Simon pays the bills by
working in a photo-development store, where he discovers a
passion for photography. He begins to stalk and take pictures of
the beautiful Rose Phipps (Heather Graham), whose vibrant scarf
one day catches his eye. Rose is a successful optometrist
experiencing troubles at home. She has separated from her
husband (William Baldwin) after losing their two-year-old son to
an accident, making her highly emotionally-vulnerable. In fact,
when Rose discovers that Simon has been taking pictures of her,
she soon invites him into her home and has mournful sex with
him.
The third of
Adrift in Manhattan’s interlocking stories follows Tommasso
Pensaro (Dominic Chianese), one of Rose’s patients. Tommasso is
an elderly Italian-immigrant who doesn’t have a family; he
spends the majority of his free-time painting. His embrace of
this talent makes it all the more tragic when Rose tells them
that he has an eye-disease that will cause him to go blind in
less than a year. Tommasso is stunned, not only because he will
lose a form of art that has become dear to him, but also because
he fears that his blindness will scare away his newfound
late-in-life love-interest (and fellow co-worker), Isabel
(Elizabeth Peña).
As reflected by
my brief plot synopsis, Adrift in Manhattan doesn’t
exactly explore any new cinematic territory. The story and
characters are rather familiar, but the film works as a whole
due to its strong performances and production-values. Director
De Villa, as he did with his freshman-feature Washington
Heights, is able to capture a very authentic view of
Manhattan and its culture. He naturally sets the stage for his
actors to go to work, and they do so beautifully. Rasuk is able
to wonderfully internalize the role of Simon, relying heavily on
face and eye work to craft the nuances of the character. Graham
is perhaps the best she’s ever been here, capturing the grief of
Rose with stunning fearlessness (especially during the
aforementioned graphic sex scene). And Chianese is also
comfortingly excellent at playing Tommasso. Even if Adrift in
Manhattan isn’t exactly the freshest film being released
this year, it uses its assets to craft an entirely pleasant and
occasionally poignant product.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 10.4.2007
Screened on:
9.29.2007 at the Pacific Gaslamp 15 in San Diego, CA.
Adrift in Manhattan is rated R and runs
89 minutes.
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