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, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: August 27, 2002
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006AUGV
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,439 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Little Odessa" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

The lure of power has snared two brothers (Tim Roth and Edward Furlong) into a deadly web of danger, deceit and passion too strong to resist. Torn between the sinister yet seductive world of crime and the bonds of family loyalty, the brothers must risk their lives to make a stand in the brutal struggle for survival in the mean streets of New York. An all-star cast explodes in this action drama in the tradition of Goodfellas.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 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 HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format: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.

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful

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

By "earl65"

Format: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

Format: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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Specific, Solid Gangster Picture March 15, 2008

By Stephanie DePue VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

"Little Odessa," (1994), written and directed by James Gray, is a remarkably powerful and effective, award-winning crime drama set among the Russian community in present-day Brooklyn, New York. At its heart, it's a tale of a dysfunctional family that has lost its way in its new American life. And it's been given a top-drawer cast, all of whom fully inhabit their roles. Arkady Shapira, played by Maximilian Schell, is the unhappy father of this brood: in Russia, he was a respected man; in Brooklyn he runs a newsstand. Irina, his wife, played by the superb Vanessa Redgrave, is suffering from a brain tumor. Tim Roth, in one of his best performances, is their disaffected son Joshua; he's become a professional hit man, and long exiled himself from family and neighborhood. Edward Furlong plays his confused younger brother Reuben. Moira Kelly turns in a fine performance as Alla Shustervich, former girlfriend of Roth's character.

Life and death business brings Roth's character back to Brooklyn's Brighton Beach neighborhood;it resembles the Russian Odessa, as both lie on the sea. It's bleak in winter, and he knows he should not return. But return he does, yearning to restore relations with his family, over his father's objections. It soon proves to have not been a good idea.

Those of us who lived in Brooklyn as the Russians came crowding in in the hundreds of thousands never quite knew what to make of them, nor, I suppose, do we yet. But this is surely the Brooklyn we know, with its massive, solid, prewar buildings -- huge boilers in the basements -- in which entire families have been born, lived, and died.... And Gray's intense script has given his characters here dialog and usage that any Brooklynite would recognize, and these actors, most especially including the English Roth, have sure got the local accent.

The movie is as bleak in outlook and outcome as its wintry,dirty-snowy setting, and, in its specificity and verisimilitude, it earns its status as a solid gangster picture. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bleak to the point of total despair December 10, 2011

By Mickey Ryan

Format:DVD

Tim Roth is mesmerizing as Joshua, a Russian-American hitman returning to his Brooklyn neighborhood (the Russian-Jewish enclave of Brighton Beach) for a job that forces him to confront his past, dark relations with his family and gang cronies. He meets up with his impressionable younger brother (a superb Furlong), confronts his mean-spirited, philandering father and learns his mother is dying of cancer. Very deep and powerful New York ethnic crime drama will haunt long after its done. Filmed on location during a brutal early 90s East Coast winter, it is Roth's unforgettable portrayal of the icy protagonist that ultimately brings this gritty gangster flick to full life. The supporting cast is brilliant as well, especially Furlong and Guilfoyle. BUT there is bad news: the DVD is very poor quality and better off watching it on Amazon instant video. Hopefully an updated distributor or blu-ray will come about. That aside, 'Little Odessa' is one of the most haunting crime dramas I've ever seen.