Little Odessa

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Dominic I. (SPOILERS) I wasn’t aware Eddie Furlong would die :( Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 08/06/25 Full Review Virgo V Little Odessa is a 1994 American crime drama film directed and written by James Gray, in his directorial debut and starring Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly, Maximilian Schell and Vanessa Redgrave. The title is a reference to Brighton Beach, a community in Brooklyn nicknamed "Little Odessa." Little Odessa earned a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the prestigious Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association. It also earned admiration from French New Wave filmmaker Claude Chabrol. Little Odessa is a crime drama film that received positive reviews for its direction, acting and themes. Direction Some say James Gray's debut film was a stunning achievement, with impressive control over the actors and a haunting mood. Others say the film was carefully staged and had effective dramatic beats. Acting Some say Vanessa Redgrave gave a superb performance and that Maximilian Schell and Tim Roth were also excellent. Others say Tim Roth gave his finest performance to date. Themes Some say the film is a Dostoyevskian examination of tainted morality. Others say it's a dark, spare piece that explores family and fate. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/10/25 Full Review Dusan T A story about loneliness and love. A successful depiction of claustrophobia that the Russian section of Brighton Beach was at the time. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/15/24 Full Review Alec B You can see brief flashes of potential brilliance, but the fact that none of them amount to anything only makes the film more disappointing. Also, I hope that whoever was the boom mic operator for this never worked again. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/10/23 Full Review Audience Member This was a 1990s crime film I skipped at the time, but now wanted to go back to watch after greatly enjoying writer/director James Gray's more recent film "The Lost City of Z." In this film Tim Roth plays a hitman for the Russian Mob returning home to Little Odessa, a primarily Russian Neighborhood in New York City, but the main focus is on his younger brother Edward Furlong and the brothers' relationship to each other and their parents, Vanessa Redgrave as the terminally ill mother and Maximilian Schell as the caring father. Although there is a crime story about the mafia going after Roth, at it's core "Little Odessa" is a dark family melodrama. Much like "The Lost City of Z," writer/director Gray creates rich characters with strong performances (Moira Kelly is also quite good as Roth's girlfriend). Both films also similar present a terrific sense of place, that's reminiscent of the works of Herzog or Wim Wenders, where the setting and locations play almost as important a role in the film as the story and characters. An unfortunate similarity between the two films is a slow meandering pace. A major strike against "Little Odessa" is that I'm not quite sure of the film's subtext or central theme. There's likely something about family, but whatever point Gray had in mind gets obscured by subplots and melodrama. Still, despite the film's slow pace and lack of clear purpose, it's visually arresting, features strong performances, and paints a vivid picture of what it's like to live and breath in Little Odessa. Deeply flawed, but well worth watching. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member One of those little indies that I remember hearing about when I was in high school. On its face it's appealing: a hitman comes back to his old hood for a job and tries to reconnect with his family. It has a nice cast. But the characters are thinly drawn and the tone of the film is so unrelentingly somber that it ends up being lifeless. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Little Odessa

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