A group of friends from a rough, predominantly Italian-American neighborhood consider their future in surroundings dominated by petty crime in this drama. Nicky (Anthony DeSando) and his pals grew up together in the Federal Hill section of Providence, Rhode Island, where Nicky makes ends meet by dealing cocaine and stealing cars. His best friend Ralphie (Nicholas Turturro), who works in construction, is prone to wild mood swings and has a dangerous penchant for breaking into the homes of local
wise guys, including mob boss Sal (Frank Vincent). He also has a barely sublimated sexual attraction to Nicky which he tries to camoflage with outbursts of anti-gay violence. Nicky falls for Wendy (Libby Langdon), an archeology student at nearby Brown University, when she buys some coke from him for a sorority party; while Wendy treats their affair casually, Nicky thinks that they have a future together, and he considers travelling with her to Italy for an upcoming archeological dig. Ralphie, however, resents Nicky for spending so much time with his new girlfriend, which makes his reckless streak even more pronounced. While Federal Hill was shot and released theatrically in black and white, a colorized version was distributed on home video over the objections of director Michael Corrente; the original monochrome version was later released on tape as well. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Corrente's handling of class divisions (one of the heroes starts seeing a Brown University senior he sells cocaine to) and the body language of the performances keep things fresh.
Producer-director-scripter Michael Corrente manages to bring freshness to basically derivative material in Federal Hill, thanks to a number of excellent performances and some evocative black-and-white images of a world he knows intimately.
Federal Hill is lively and likable, a first film with the kind of swift action, clever dialogue and clear-cut characters that suggest an expert director's touch.
As a first film this low-budget, semi-autobiographical crime film is polished and has some interesting moves that make the familiar aspects seem a little fresher.
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