Customer Reviews

The Narrows [Blu-ray]

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

 

 

This man is incredible. I have been a fan for a long time and he transforms himself into any character he chooses. I will never understand why this actor has been so under rewarded for his work. He says he doesn't want the leading role parts, but I think he is a leading man and would be wonderful as a romantic lead. He has only gotten better looking and deeper as an actor and he deserves better. This movie was well done and shows how easily one can be drawn into a frightening situation for a means to an end. The supporting cast was also very convincing without being overdone with the Italian ethnicity side of things. The language was very strong and that is not alway pleasing to the ear, but I enjoyed this movie anyway.

Got this film because I'm a huge Vincent D'Onofrio fan. The movie stays amazingly true to the book "Heart of the Old Country." All of the actors turn in solid performances and the story has a good twist. Kevin Zegers carries off his part as a young man searching for something more in life. The father-son relationship is well played. D'Onofrio once again brings a third dimension to his role. Good movie. Great Vincent.

I am a fan of D'Onofrio and was hoping to see something different for Zegers than those last two dark outings in Gardens of the Night and Normal - and was pleasantly surprised by the time the credits rolled.

The story follows our twentysomething (Zegers) as he lives with his crippled dad (D'Onofrio) in Brooklyn while working for a car service run by a small-time mobster. The only significant difference between this and the Heart of the Old Country (The Narrows) would be he has the added aspiration of being a photographer, which in itself sets the style of film making. That being lots of picture work being still-shot into the storyline and multiple lens colorings/scene changes, including black & white, sepia, chroma, yellow and a few others. The line follows his struggles with his dad, being owned by the mob, finding love, finding his art in photography - and staying alive.

The BD quality is excellent at times, mediocre in other sequences, but that lens change and digital camera feel were on purpose so I do not fault it with a lower rating. The opening CGI sequence of shifting from a bullet to a football looked pristine - nice reference point right off. The DTS worked fine but gets used very little to the outer channels. The amount of clarity degradations would normally make me rate this Blu lower, but it all serves a purpose and the majority of sequences show NY in excellent 1080. The supplements are thorough for a character film and include:

* 43 minute interview with the director and writer. Gives you some good insight into how this came to be - nice connection between the screenwriter and the book author (went to writing school together).
* 11 minute interview with Zegers. Seems like a good kid with a heart in this.
* 21 minute interview with Sophia Bush.
* 7 minute interview with D'Onofrio. Would have expected a longer cut but I realize he is all about the work speaking for itself.
* 7 minute interview with McGloughlin (author). Not his best location interview.
* Commentary with writer and director. ESL for Francois but he provides a decent narration.

All of the supplements are lodef and play individually (no play all).

Four stars for the film content and clarity, one for the supplements. Hope you enjoy a solid performance piece from everyone involved.

i bought this on the recommedation of other's reviews and i'm glad i did. i was pleasantly surprised. this was not your typical mob movie and i want to thank those people who recommended it. i only knew a couple of actors in this movie which was the father,the main thug and nicky who was killed from the series csi ny. i only knew them by face because they always have small roles. i had kind of pulled away from watching films about the mob because they had become typical and predictable but this one was refreshing. what can i say accept i loved it.

The language was really rough in the beginning, but the story got really good. There was some pretty graphic violence, so it's definitely not for everyone. The acting was good. D'Onofrio was at his best.

This is a movie revolving around a young guy who wants to break away from his current life and find something better.

Kevin Zegers plays a college age student living in an area of the Bronx that seems to be peppered with low and mid-level hoods. His dad (Vince D'Onofrio) runs numbers but knows not to get too deep in. Zegers has a talent for photography and gets a partial scholarship that lands him in a class with a noted photographer and a female student who help him see the other side of existence. But he needs heavy deniro to stay in the class so he agrees to run some "errands" for a local hood that will pay him enough to stay in. Can he get out in one piece? Can he find a better life and a better girl?

This is a decent movie. You like a lot of the characters, even the bad ones. Zeger's dad has a code he lives by. He sees how things are and knows where to draw the line. He wants to instill this in his son and he gets pretty heavy handed at times. But he comes through in spades when he needs to. This maybe needed a bit more focus. I saw where it wanted to go but I kept seeing unnecessary detours. For instance: What was with the religious fellow who talks God then has an affair with the local, married slut, only to take a beating from her husband? If there was a purpose to that it eluded me.

The chief hood (played nicely by Titus Welliver) is tough but not senselessly violent. He WILL do violence though if called to. Some of the secondary characters might be a bit too cliche as New Yorkers, and we've seen it all before but I wasn't bothered by it.

The production values, acting, music, etc. all fit the story and budget. It just needed a bit more focus to excel.

This is a decent watch. It might not belong on the top of your list of movies to see but giving it a shot won't hurt in the least.

Vincent D'Onofrio delivers again in this very interesting tale about a young Italian American kid who wants to study photography at what is apparently NYU, while working his way through school working for a 'car service' run by the brother of the local gangster boss.

I have never seen Kevin Zegers (playing the lead role of Mike Manadaro) before, but his intensity and delivery is just great. Sophia Bush (who plays Kathy) also delivers a great performance as someone who is getting to know the 'bad boy' attempting to get into photog.

There are a couple of others you have seen besides Vincent D. Titus Welliver (Tony the mob boss) plays a great role. You will remember him as the cloud monster character on Lost before Locke was the bad guy. Also playing the neighborhood hero/tough guy name Nicky "Shades" is Eddie Cahill whom you may have seen as Detective Flack on CSI NY. Here you have some great characters who can help to create the intensity you want in a movie.

For those from the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, you get to see a little neighborhood, and you get to see Mike driving across most of the bridges, through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and driving by the Verrazano Bridge. All pretty cool.

There are definately some rough edges to the movie, that make it not a family view, however, there are some lessons that Mike's dad is trying to get across in the typical Vincent D'Onofrio quite deliberate fashion.

Overall, this is a great movie to watch on a quiet night. If you like mob flicks or interesting crime dramas, this is a movie you need to check out.

The only reason why I purchased this DVD was because of the actor Eddie Cahill. His role was small yet significant, and I believe that he actually made the movie worth watching. He played his role as a veteran very believable and did an excellent performance on screen. The other cast was pretty good too except for Kevin Zegers who was in the leading role. He did a horrible job, and was totally wrong for the part. His body language and figure were extremely irritating too. I believe the perfect actor for this role would have been Leonardo DiCaprio, but since it was a low budget movie you had to get those that weren't that expensive. So my resume would be that it was a very dry yet realistic kept movie that was pretty well done for a low budget.

I don't write spoilers. This is a nice, little story. It's a bit low budget. That's OK, though. It's nice to see people working w/less. Yeah, there's a couple of flaws w/the storyline, but it's an enjoyable shortish film. This kid has been studying Leo D'Caprio's face pix a bit too much :-P... D'Onfrio has got to be related to the guy who played Animal Mother in FMJ. I don't care what their stage names are. Good film @a good price. You'll probably like it, too. Caio.

The Narrows is a fairly interesting film about a young kid who joins a mafia in order to make quick money, and this is when his troubles really begin.

He soon realizes he made a huge mistake, and then the storyline kicks in dealing with him doing jobs for his boss (against his fathers wishes). Yeah, you know what to expect. We've seen this story a thousand times by this point in time.

However the fact it involves a young 19-year old kid makes it more interesting than most, because you'll definitely be wondering about the kids future several times throughout the film, and what the ending will be like.

However, the jobs his boss ask of him are never as enormous or life-changing as you'd probably expect- just simple tasks like delivering packages to people and whatnot. Still, he gets caught up in some very crucial decisions that do a pretty good job keeping your interest and wondering just how angry he'll get.

The scenes involving his girlfriend(s) are really pointless though. They severely drag down the film because they are just so boring and pointless (except for in one or two scenes, of course). The scenes involving his father however, are an improvement.

Overall, nothing really extraordinary here- a fair amount of violence, and a decent job at telling a story.