Product Details

• Actors: Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly, Vanessa Redgrave, Paul Guilfoyle
• Directors: James Gray
• Writers: James Gray
• Producers: Claudia Lewis, Kerry Orent, Nick Wechsler, Paul Webster, Rolf Mittweg
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
• DVD Release Date: August 22, 2000
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000IBSM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #233,381 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Little Odessa" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Joshua the hit man (Tim Roth) returns to the Russian section of Brooklyn on a job, and for the first time in years he links up with his family: his mopey younger brother (Edward Furlong), his dying mother (Vanessa Redgrave), and his disapproving, belt-wielding father (Maximilian Schell). The writer and director, James Gray, draws formidable work from his cast (Schell, especially, looks invigorated), but you may feel that the characters are being used to thicken a mood piece rather than to advance a story. The tone alternates between dark-and-threatening and scummy-and-washed-out, as though Dostoyevski had had a hand in the screenplay. This potent, cheerless movie gets to you, and gets you down. It's one for a rainy day. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost too realistic, cruel and depressing. Serious stuff., March 5, 2004

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Little Odessa (DVD)

This 1994 film is set in Brighton Beach, the area of Brooklyn where Russians have settled. It's a rough and gritty neighborhood and we meet a family with multiple problems. The oldest son, Tim Roth, is a hit man for the mob who's been out of touch with his family for several years but has to come back to the neighborhood to carry out a murder. His teenage brother adores him and follows him to all the wrong places. The mother, played by Vanessa Redgrave, is dying of a brain tumor. The father, played by Maximillian Schell, works hard all day at a newspaper stand, cheats on his wife and is brutal to his sons. There is violence and murder throughout and the audience knows it will just get worse.

Usually, I complain because films like this are not realistic. However, I felt just the opposite about this film. It is almost too realistic, cruel and depressing. And there is no bit of lightness to offset the somber mood. I also felt some real emotion. To me this was serious stuff.

Performances were uniformly excellent, especially that of Maximillian Schell. He came across a real person with upsets and conflicts and bad choices. Tim Roth, who is actually a British actor, managed to get the New York street accent just right. The rest of the cast seemed completely authentic. I especially liked the family's large run-down apartment and the scenes shot near the beach during the winter. And the murders made me shudder because they were so very real.

The drama held my attention and let me feel the dilemma of this troubled family. It ends sadly, as I expected it would. And it is completely depressing. However, I liked it and therefore recommend it.

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!!!!, November 21, 2002

By 

"earl65" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Odessa (DVD)

The movie is great and the original DVD was, too (Pioneer released it a couple years ago, it was widescreen and had commentary and a really nice extra feature with the director's watercolors)

Well, this release is full-frame only, an effect that RUINS this beautiful, haunting, lyrical film. Just KILLS it! Better to not see it at all than to see it like this. (believe me, I have.) Plus Artisan didn't include any of the extra features from the previous edition. Hunt down the old one used somewhere!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Powerful flick, May 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Little Odessa [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The story of a hitman named Joshua,who comes back to his childhood neighborhood in Brooklyn to do a hit. This soon starts trouble when he is reunited with his family. His mother is dying of a brain tumor, his father is a boozer and cheater who refuses to show any respect to his long lost son, and his little brother whom is so vulnerable to his brother's violence. A crime drama unlike others, which to say in a good way. Moves kinda slow at times, but other scenes are so powerful and rich that you won't even care. It also gives you a hard-edged look on Russian-American gangster life in NYC.