Customer Reviews

'R Xmas

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

 

 

Abel Ferrara director of Bad Luitenant and Driller Killer is probably one of the most consistently singular American filmmakers working today. His work has been shifting towards blending fragmentation and expressionitic flourishes with his patented hyper realist style more and more in the last few years -- cresting with the underrated New Rose Hotel and Blackout. 'RXmas is a step sideways, but if you have gotten into any of his later work, this is worth your time. It's Ferrara's most drifting film since The Funeral, but still pretty compelling and emotionally hard-edged stuff. Not to mention another great score from Schooly D.

Now the really juicy part of this DVD, and the reason I'm boosting the rating to 4 stars, is the commentary track with Ferrara and some other guy who I think is the DP or production designer, it's not specified on the box or in the menus. It's refreshingly candid, freewheeling, funny and for the most part down right outlandish with Ferrara noticing the strangest things and saying stuff like "I wish the stuffed animals would come to life and just strangle this guy". Highly recommended.

Abel Ferrara is the type of director that it is 'hip' to admit following, giving you a certain intellectual air among friends and family. While, Ferrara is definitely not a bad director, his films and cinematic language are not for everyone.
RXmas is his latest film to date, and one of his weakest by far.
The themes of Ferrara's cinema are all there yet again,
Drugs,gangs, gloominess,despair,more drugs, inner demons, religious icons and images, redemption and yes still more drugs.In fact there are so much drugs in Ferrara's movies, that I suspect there is none left for any other movie!
With Driller Killer (banned in the UK for ages), he gained a reputation as a cult director with an eye for psychological violence and an unrelenting dark atmosphere,and this was reinforced albeit more subtely with King Of New York, his finest film to date, mainly because of Chris Walken's performance,(with Harvey Kietel ,his actor of choice).
Bad Lieutenant was yet another controversial visit to familiar territory and themes (yes you guessed it..there is lots of drugs there too), a film so depressing I needed to watch Bambi a couple of times to wash it off!
Ferrara made other films that alternated between the good (Funeral, New Rose Hotel)and the'what on earth was he thinking about? type ' (Blackout, with a tintalizing but empty promise of more than a peck on the cheek between Beatrice Dalle and Claudia Schiffer).
I have to say that RXmas falls directly in the latter category. Not only because Ferrara's themes are all revisited one by one, but because there is absolutely no life in the camera or story. The first half of the film I waited for any action to start, to be disappointed by scene after scene of copious amounts of er..drugs..being placed on a glass table. I got the feeling that Ferrara's heart and mind were not in this film at all! The only saving grace was The Sopranos's Drea de Matteo who gave a solid performance.
You should totally forget about this film,and if you like Ferrara's style stick with his better output, and hope that his next film would be light years better than this one, and yes with less drugs!!

Ferrara films have certain elements that are so over-the-top that it's easy to see he is often doing (or at least attempting) very subtle things with the camera, script and actors. This plays as the flipside of KING OF NEW YORK, a film that focuses on the mundane details of day-to-day drug dealing (which is not made up of endless shoot-outs on rain-slicked Manhattan streets) and then creates an interesting conflict where cops kidnap the drug-dealing husband for both the right and wrong reasons, and we're sympathetic to the wife (very convincingly played by Drea De Mateo) as she attempts to extricate him due to her genuine love for the fellow, but also disturbed because of their willful ignorance towards the wrongness of what they're doing....it is indeed a "slow" film, especially compared to KING (which is a terrific flick), but I think Ferrara is still an interesting director with a unique viewpoint.

This movie is very good. I don't know why, but americans seem to completely underrate and not understand Ferrara's movies, while in other parts of the world (for example in Russia) he is valued much higher.

I watched the movie in cinema a couple of years ago and liked it very much. Today I watched it again on the Russian DVD and liked it again.

I haven't seen this particular DVD, but I'm almost sure both the quality and supplements on this disc are good. If you like Abel Ferrara's work and/or this movie I could only reccoment to buy this DVD.

AFTER A DRUG DEALER IS KIDNAPPED, HIS WIFE MUST PAY A HEAVY RANSOM TO FREE HIM OR WATCH HIM DIE. VERY WEAK FILM. THE MOVIE IS SO SO SLOW PACED AND THERE REALLY IS VERY LITTLE ACTION TO SEE. DREA DE MATTEO AND LILLO BRANCOLO WHO ARE BOTH STARS OF THE SOPRANOS PLAY THE HUSBAND-WIFE DRUG DEALERS. WHILE THE TWO STARS ARE OKAY IN THEIR ROLES, THE MOVIE IS JUST TOO SLOW PACED FOR IT'S OWN GOOD. OH, AND IF YOU PLAN ON LOOKING AT THIS MOVIE JUST TO SEE ICE-T, HE DOESN'T SHOW UP IN THIS ONE UNTIL THE MOVIE'S CLOSE TO OVER, AND HE DOESN'T DO MUCH OF ANYTHING. ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES I'VE EVER SEEN. THE SCORE WAS DONE BY SCHOOLY D.

As you pass by new releases in the DVD department of your video store (and with the paucity of new releases of late) you are feeling a bit desparate, view this little film 'R XMAS only if you are a fan of the SOPRANOS. Both Drew De Mateo and Lillo Brancolo, Jr have been on the popular series and their performances there are fine. Here they are lost in a dreary remake of a remake of a tale of the degenration of people under the infulence of the drug market. The pacing is so slow that it is matched only by the incompetent attempts to mimic Puerto Rican accents from the actors. There is really nothing to recommend this film.....unless it is the only one on the shelf!

This movie was a good movie about drug dealers in NYC. If you like movies with a new york feel and look then watch it. Lillo Brancato tries too hard in his accent to sound Dominican. It sounds strained and fake. Fans of ABel ferraras films should watch.

This movie is horrible. The story, the acting, the directing. Just horrible.

This movie was about drug selling by people in NY. It could have been entertaining but it wasn't.

I fought sleep off throughout this movie. At the end I quizically looked at my wife and saw the same expression on her face..... Time in our lives we will never regain. I'm sorry I just didnt get it. It ranks right up there with Eraserhead.If I was back on a submarine I would have to tell the rest of the crew that it was a great flick with an awesome naked Drew De Mateo sex scene at the end (a sure guarantee to make sure the guys actually sit through the whole thing. Tee Hee Hee, Misery Loves company ;).