Donnie Brasco (Wide Screen) > Reviews > Dont Forget About This great Move

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Superb acting & directing, pace, score, etc .  etc .  etc .
Disadvantages:	Absolutely None !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Even though Donnie Brasco didn't quite set the box office alight on its 1997 release, it did win huge applause from critics & serious movie-goers across the board.

Under the directorship of Englishman Mike Newall, who's portfolio for film direction is long but fairly undistinguished with the exception of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Newall adapted the published memoirs of Joe Pistone (under the name of Donnie Brasco), a real-life FBI agent who infiltrated a gang of relatively small-time hoods belonging to the Mob in Brooklyn back in the late 70s.

Johnny Depp, as Pistone, gives a performance of a lifetime, as the aspiring young agent & family man gradually being subsumed into the brightlights of the underworld. He meets up & later befriends his first contact,Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a man who has been connected with the mob for over 30 years but has never risen above the level of dependable & loyal smalltime hood.

Pacino is wonderful, and gives perhaps one of his best performances since Scarface & Dog Day Afternoon. Pacino's facial expressions are enough to tell us how his character feels after 30 years of loyal service but never receiving the promotion or respect he feels he is owed.

For all his service he still lives in a rundown apartment wearing tacky suits & even tackier jewellry. While at the same time, others a lot younger than him have somehow made their way to the top of the tree through the old boys network, living the life of luxury leaving Pacino bitter.

And yet he takes to the new guy, Pistone, like a father and his long lost son, teaching him the right protocols of mob rule & respect, as well as telling him who to watch out for amongst the grandees of the mob.

As the movie progresses we can see the gradual change within Pistone from a dedicated FBI agent, collecting evidence & informing his colleagues of the latest mob plans & hits while at the same time he is treated with little or no respect by his superiors. Yet within the mob he is becoming noticed & respected for his dynaism amongst the dregs to the point where Sonny Black, the boss of this small Brooklyn team, sees Pistone as more useful than Lefty who gradually gets pushed into the cold once more as he sees Pistone become more integrated with the leader.

By the end of the film Pistone finds it hard to want to breakup the party and implicate everyone because he is now so emotionally involved & immersed within the whole criminal organisation to the point where he almost forsakes his wife and family to live the life of the hood. The ending especially is a real eye-opener and puts into question which side of the fence is greener.

For me, Pacino & Depp are truly magnificent here along with some truly wonderful support. The acting seems far more genuine & realistic than a lot of other films connected to the Mob or other members of the criminal fraternity, such as Heat or to some extents Scarface & The Godfather.

Mike Newell does a terrific job moving the story along at a seemingly lesuirely pace, never letting the mood or subject slip for a second especially during the initial 30 minutes of the film as Depp finally wins the confidence from Pacino and the infiltration begins in earnest.

Coupled with the superb acting & direction I would have to add marvellous cinematography & haunting but moving score. Donnie Brasco is one of my films of the 90s and comes highly recommended.