Customer Reviews

Mixed Blood

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Mixed Blood" is like a time capsule, showcasing a New York that simply does not exist anymore. Alphabet City has never looked so grimy and dangerous, and so strangely beautiful as it does in this film. Marilla Pera from the astounding film "Pixote" is mesmerizing as the "den mother" to a gang of young drug-dealing, murdering thugs, all of them under age, as they can't be sent to jail if they are caught. Her and her dumb but sexy son Thiago are the ringleaders of a major cocaine/heroin business run out in the open, in front of corrupt cops and countless strung-out junkies. "Mixed Blood" also features a collection of the most beautiful and exotic Latino actors ever seen in one film. Recommended for fans of the film "Pixote," and other films about gangs and youth crime. and for those who spent time in NYC in the 80's to early 90's, this one will blow your mind! There is even a shootout in the Menudo store, "Menuditis!" And the little details of slum life that the director picks up on are amazing. Like the kids who sleep on the floor, with their pant legs tied up with rope to keep out the bedbugs! The dvd is widescreen and the print looks terrific, especially compared to that washed out print from the old VHS. Excellent, low budget film, and startlingly realistic, especially compared to over-stylized fluff like the film "Alphabet City" with Vincent Spano. "Mixed Blood" is the real thing, a ghetto version of "Scarface," only no one seems to get rich. On a side note, the film contains a surprisngly high level of violence, most of which looks very realistic, not to mention a very unflattering portrayal of foreigners making their living in New York, ( in other words, this one is quite politically incorrect!)

Paul Morrissey managed to do what very few filmmakers ever have: to tell the story of fringe groups whose story has never been told WITHOUT oversimplifying or forcing the viewer to accept his own conclusions. Like Ellison's "Invisible Man" and Selby's "Last Exit to Brooklyn" it neither condemns nor excuses these fringe characters. It also reminds me a little of the brilliant Brazilian film "City of God." The setting here is alphabet city, the very meanest part of lower Manhattan in 1984. South American, Asian, Puerto Rican, German, all scheme to cut into each others' drug turf. The first hour is slightly awkward and amateurish, but the second hour more than makes up for it.

I don't know what film noir means, but I think this is one. Anyway, this movie is a classic. It is an art film. To me, it falls in the category of sort of super-realistic or naturalistic films with protagonists who are not really good people in any accepted meaning of the phrase, like Sam Peckinpah's films. It may not be as good as The Wild Bunch, but if you liked the Wild Bunch, you will like this movie, provided you can handle the hispanic, post-apocalyptic milieu. Another film that it is similar to is "Sucker Punch". These are not films for everybody, but on the other hand if you are a fan of this type of tongue-in-cheek, over the top realism, you shouldn't miss this one. I hope at least Paul Morrissey knows what a good film he made.

If you jog their memory a little,basically,everybody knows who Paul Morrissey is; he's the fellow who actually directed that legendary underground trilogy Andy Warhol always gets credit for: FLESH, TRASH,and HEAT. What few people know is that Morrissey directed another trilogy of arguably greater scope and power in the 1980's: FORTY DEUCE,MIXED BLOOD and SPIKE OF BENSONHURST. Both MIXED BLOOD and SPIKE are currently to be had for next to nothing on VHS; it's not an opportunity to be missed. MIXED BLOOD is probably one of the most disturbing films you'll ever see: a middle-aged South American woman has moved to NYC to start a good business,namely taking over the coke trade in Alphabet City,a section of Manhattan "noted for it's diversity". Her right-hand,lover and son is a somewhat slow-witted thug named Thiago,who introduces a wild card in the form of a beautiful siren - a Marilyn Monroe look-alike, whose naive craving for adventures in the unberbelly of the NYC drug world brings near disaster to Thiago & Mom, involved as they are in liquidating the competition. Mom's army,by the way,consists of teenage boys and even a few grade-school kids. The old kids serve as killers and the young'uns run the drugs,everybody camps out in an old abandoned building,the Marilyn can't understand why don't get a better place,they can afford it,can't they? Yeah,but their whole scene rather demands a poorly policed neighborhood and a building with no neighbors. The naive adventuress is going to get everybody killed,before she ends up being killed herself. This a powerful and completely bizarre movie,not to be taken for an action movie,though there is no shortage of that. There are all kinds of bizarre subtexts: Rodney Harvey (MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO) begging for an oppportunity to get started as a killer; a grant-funded neighborhood theatrical group that doubles as a drug drop; the sense of community established by Mom (clean underwear a must!),and most of all the creepy take on multi-ethnicity - the conflict of cultural values leading to completely different concepts regarding illegal drug distribution and profit-sharing; but most of all the profound claustrophobia of a small,dirty,brutal subculture - virtually a civilization unto itself,half nascent,half decayed - MIXED BLOOD is a challenging film for anyone,and definitely worth the effort. As brutal as it is brilliant and one of the greatest unrecognized classics of American cinema,ever. Everything Gus van Sant knows he learned by watching Paul Morrissey is the 1980's. Let me put it this way: if you like DRUGSTORE COWBOY you'll love MIXED BLOOD. It's one of Duane's all-time favorites. And you know Duane.

great to see the east village from back in the day...but the movie itself is not good.