Kill the Poor

Released Apr 29, 2003

1h 24m

Drama

List

25%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

33%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Barely employed Manhattanite Joe (David Krumholtz) agrees to a green-card marriage to Frenchwoman Annabelle (Clara Bellar). The newlyweds struggle to find an apartment on his meager salary, and settle on a unit in a shabby tenement building on a block where Joe's deceased grandparents once lived. Trouble begins when the neighbors name Joe head of the tenants association -- and promptly recruit him to escort wild-eyed Nuyorican prizefighter Carlos DeJesus (Paul Calderon) from the premises.

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Audience Member

This is a tiny little shoestring ensemble slice of life cross section, of eccentricly struggling to just-plain-not-quite-making-it humanity, produced in part by John Malkovich. Joe Peltz ( David Krumholtz ) buys a landlord abandoned squatter tenament in his grandma's old neighborhood now reduced to desecated abandonment to an overrunning desperate junkie population. He then moves in to become president of the tenant corporation and have his life swallowed whole by endless tenant meetings,one tenant with a mean anti-junkie baseball bat who refuses to pay rent whose son, Segundo(John Budinoff) vandalizes the place and threatens the other tenants, pulling guard duty against pipe stealing junkies, ripping off the hospital a few blocks away for their pipes to replace those enivitably missing every time he falls asleep and on and on et al. There's a typical Agatha Christi like sub-text plotline about who finally burned the bully Carlos (Paul Calderon) out and who's gonna pay for it. And a final denouement is where the one tragic death, in this whole messy hash of angst that is the whole life of run down squatter tennancy beyound the pale of reasonably affordable society, occurs. (Click the title and read that more comprehensive synopsis if your still interested.) The writing and the modest storyline and most of the dialog seemed natural and spontaneous most of the time. The very mild plot did seem to hold everything together neatly enough. It was enough to hold my attention & too short(1&1/4hr.) to let me get antsy or sleepy. One of those movies that leaves you contempletive more than agitated or comically releaved as its title implies.(seen on IFC commercial free while finishing up dinner)

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a tiny little shoestring ensemble slice of life cross section, of eccentricly struggling to just-plain-not-quite-making-it humanity, produced in part by John Malkovich. Joe Peltz ( David Krumholtz ) buys a landlord abandoned squatter tenament in his grandma's old neighborhood now reduced to desecated abandonment to an overrunning desperate junkie population. He then moves in to become president of the tenant corporation and have his life swallowed whole by endless tenant meetings,one tenant with a mean anti-junkie baseball bat who refuses to pay rent whose son, Segundo(John Budinoff) vandalizes the place and threatens the other tenants, pulling guard duty against pipe stealing junkies, ripping off the hospital a few blocks away for their pipes to replace those enivitably missing every time he falls asleep and on and on et al. There's a typical Agatha Christi like sub-text plotline about who finally burned the bully Carlos (Paul Calderon) out and who's gonna pay for it. And a final denouement is where the one tragic death, in this whole messy hash of angst that is the whole life of run down squatter tennancy beyound the pale of reasonably affordable society, occurs. (Click the title and read that more comprehensive synopsis if your still interested.) The writing and the modest storyline and most of the dialog seemed natural and spontaneous most of the time. The very mild plot did seem to hold everything together neatly enough. It was enough to hold my attention & too short(1&1/4hr.) to let me get antsy or sleepy. One of those movies that leaves you contempletive more than agitated or comically releaved as its title implies.(seen on IFC commercial free while finishing up dinner)

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Forget the drama, forget the action (there is little). What this movie offers is a different way to think about money and poverty, and we think about and treat both. While it was mildly unpredictable, the ending left me with more to think about, and examine, than almost any other movie I've seen. For entertainment or enjoyment, Ic an't recommend; but for thought proviking discussion or sel-examination of your own prejudices, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I am a fan of David Krumholtz which is why I even watched this movie in the first place, but I just felt that nothing really happened and it all seemed rather pointless. Did absolutely nothing for me..

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I was a little dissapointed by this film. I thought it looked great and was very good in sections, but overall I thought it was lacking. Maybe the book would be good. You don't learn very much about the characters and therefore you don't really gain much from viewing this film. I guess it ends up being a story about gentrification on the Lower East Side. Maybe I missed the point...I don't know.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

very interesting...yeah.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

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Alan Taylor

Director

David Krumholtz

Joe Peltz

Clara Bellar

Annabelle Peltz

Paul Calderone

Carlos DeJesus

Jon Budinoff

Segundo

Cliff Gorman

Yakov

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Tasha Robinson

AV Club

In spite of its oddities, [Kill the Poor] pulls off a memorable story.

Rated: B-

Nov 27, 2006

Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Can utopian ideals survive such a mugging by reality?

Rated: C-

Jan 18, 2006

Full Review

Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

Nowhere near as provocative as its title might imply.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 7, 2006

Full Review

Ken Fox

TV Guide

Alan Taylor's film will resonate with any New Yorker who's played real-estate roulette in Fun City.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 6, 2006

Full Review

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Synopsis

Barely employed Manhattanite Joe (David Krumholtz) agrees to a green-card marriage to Frenchwoman Annabelle (Clara Bellar). The newlyweds struggle to find an apartment on his meager salary, and settle on a unit in a shabby tenement building on a block where Joe's deceased grandparents once lived. Trouble begins when the neighbors name Joe head of the tenants association -- and promptly recruit him to escort wild-eyed Nuyorican prizefighter Carlos DeJesus (Paul Calderon) from the premises.

Director: Alan Taylor
Producer: Jonathan Sehring, Caroline Kaplan, John Sloss
Screenwriter: Daniel Handler
Production Co: IFC Productions, Mr. Mudd, InDiGent Entertainment
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 29, 2003, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jan 6, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 19, 2017
Runtime: 1h 24m
Sound Mix: Dolby

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