Drug wars, poverty and hard luck pervade in Giovinazzo's down-and-out L.A.

Life Is Hot in Cracktown, the movie Giovinazzo has been trying to make almost since his novel came out in 1993, is a compassionate extrapolation of the same themes he's been exploring throughout his career, beginning with Combat Shock - only now he has (a bit) of a budget and professional actors to carry out his worldview, so that the whole thing is stretched taut over two hours of some of the most uncomfortable stuff I've ever seen on the screen.

Up-and-comer Victor Rasuk plays Manny, a young father working two jobs (bodega and security guard in a fleabag SRO) and married to a frequently shirtless Shannyn Sossamon, whose life touches many of the people who live on the mean streets of this L.A. neighbourhood, including RZA, Ileana Douglas, Lara Flynn Boyle and Kerry Washington as a pre-op transsexual.

The complex lives of gangbangers has become more familiar territory since The Wire, but still there is something engrossing about a story lodged so far inside the war on drugs that you can't even see your way out. Not to be missed, under any circumstances.

Life Is Hot in Cracktown
At the Fantasia Film Festival, July 9-29
For full schedule, see www.fantasiafest.com









 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

~Fantasia 2009: IV~     No offence meant here but this is a bit besides the point, isn't it? I mean, in terms of Fantasia and all the genre projects and genre directors that struggle to get the same sort of respectability and attention that most mainstream filmmakers get without even trying and what does this article do? Plug one of the most mainstream films at this year's Fantasia. Seriously? I'm not knocking Combat Shock or Life Is Hot in Cracktown (which I'll be watching later today) but either project can garner attention without the benefit of Fantasia whereas there numerous films and shorts here that will only shine during Fantasia before they go directly to DVD. Kinda like reporting on the Jazz festival where there are many names acts that people still aren't familiar with by doing a feature on some established legend. I get the logic involved but kind of skewed effectiveness.
Pedro Eggers		July 20th, 2009

Write your comment! please follow these guidelines

Information requested in blue will remain confidential   [privacy policy] Please indicate your real first and last names.

First name :

Last name :

Your email :

Confirm your email :

Title of your comment (max. 150 characters)   Your comment (max. 2000 characters)  characters remaining       LIMIT PER PERSON : one comment per article per member. Thank you. Your comment will be read by our approval team and, if it is approved, will be posted on the website within 24 hours. It could also be published, along with your name, in the printed version of Hour magazine and on any of our partner websites. In order to present the highest quality of comments, Hour reserves the right to refuse certain submissions. Any plagiarism will entail the entire removal of the member’s profile. Hour is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the members.