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Between Cuckoo and Fresh Kills last night I kill a few ours and stay up until late but I got to say it was worth it. Fresh Kills is a crime drama movie released in 2024 and is quite popular because of its approach to the MOB during the 80s and 90s. The movie is directed by Jennifer Esposito who is also one of the actors in the movie and the plot of the movie is based on a mob family living in Staten Island, New York but with the women’s point of view. It was established from the late 1980s up to the mid 1990s, it describes the two sisters as they start to grow up in this world of crime dominated by men, something that makes some of the girl felt overlooked. What interested me was how the film avoids most of the lets say cliche situations with mob films and focuses on the personal and mental aspects of being in a criminal organization within the family, what women on a mob family goes through and some decide to take things by her hands. It is a story of two sisters growing up, Rose and Connie Larusso role played by Emily Bader and Odessa A’zion, respectively, who try to grow up in a family which is involved in criminal activities led by their father. Esposito, who has acted in TV series such as ‘Blue Bloods’ and ‘NCIS’, has written, directed, produced and acted in the film where she plays the role of the girls’ mother, Francine. The movie has been applauded for describing the life of Staten Island in this period and for giving a voice to the female characters in the mafia narratives, it is a personal venture for Esposito who is said to have used her house as collateral to get the movie going when no one in Hollywood was willing to fund it. - IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15782954/ - Platform: AppleTV+

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The Story and Characters

The Larusso Sisters

The plot of the movie is based on the two sisters named Rose and Connie Larusso who are completely opposite to each other. Rose, role played by Emily Bader is the shy one who wants to escape the criminal life that the family leads while Connie, role play by Odessa A’zion, is the one who is passionate about the family business, that MOB lif. It is interesting to watch and analyze how these girls develop from kids into young ladies and how they change their behavior and decisions. Rose is the one who rebels and decides that she wants to change the family’s way of life and become a cosmetologist which is very daring especially given her circumstances, she is the woman who is in love with her family but at the same time wants to live a free life without any bonds to the family business, she wants a change. Bader has done a good job in portraying Rose’s inner conflict, as the rest of the cast you can tell how passionate they are, as they should be, most MOB movies are like this. On the other hand, Connie is like a storm that cannot be stopped, she is an extroverted woman who is very sure of herself and who is fully dedicated to the family business, its for this reason she feels that her father’s work is something that she should be proud of and not be embarrassed about, there is a certain scene where she gets into a fight with her friend over a relationship issue and it is quite evident that violence has become a natural part of her life. The mothers and fathers in this story are not any less complicated than their children with Joe Larusso, role played by Domenick Lombardozzi is a stereotypical mafia boss, who is also a family man but the movie did not focus too much on the criminal aspect of the character, we get to know him only through the eyes of his daughters and wife since the movie is more about the female characters of the family. Francine, the mother character portrayed by Jennifer Esposito is in the middle of the conflict, she has to watch her daughters taking different paths and try to manage them best as she can while struggling to maintain her family while at the same time coming to terms with the fact that they are in a bad situation. In one of the scenes she is telling Rose about how she almost got into modeling, it’s as if she is telling Rose not to follow the same path that she followed.

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The MOB culture 80s and 90s

There was one aspect of this movie that I thought was particularly impressive and that is how they show and develop the backdrop of Staten Island in the late 80s and early 90s. I personally never saw New York during that period, as a fact have only been one time in NY during early 2000s, but I was amazed impressed how the create that 90s vibe, similar to the recent Netflix mini series "Eric" played by Benedict Cumberbatch where they took the 90s scenario to another level. Fresh Kill did the same and was able to capture the atmosphere of the time, including the types of clothes that the characters wore, the songs that were played in the movie, Esposito put a lot of attention to details and from that point, visually I got hooked on the movie. I was particularly fascinated by the portrayal of the mob culture in the movie and this is because the movie does not describe the mob culture in the conventional manner, not your classic controlling an area, dealing or hiring for kill, we do not have many cases of violent crimes or the wild west style shootouts. We get to know how this culture influences the routine life of the women in the family, like how the girls are supposed to act or how their mother has to maintain the image. This is a rather suspense and thriller feeling, it is as if at any moment something bad is going to happen, but it’s not a kind of danger which you will meet in the action movie, it’s more so the psychological one. It is in the way that characters don’t say what they want to say, in the cars that seem to follow the characters, in the rules that are not written down.

What Worked, How much success?

This is one of those movies that you got close to zero reasonable complains from the audience but now days you just cant believe anything that is online, reason why even though some people say certain movie is bad if I feel attracted to it some how I go and watch it, at least stream it, even though its a movie that might not be as famous or a blockbuster its a movie for cinema lovers, very nice to those who grew during the era where the movie take place, coming in a a refresh to those time, rewinds the cassette and takes you back to the OG MOB movies and series, but this time making big contrast with the outside world been that the movie has been created during the 2020s. Websites like IMDB and RTT have mix opinions, same if you go online but you always have the users who can choose form 1 to 10 to give a reasonable and objective score but they choose violence setting the score at 1 right from the start. On the other hand, some people who watched the movie did explain how they had some complaints regarding the pacing of the movie, some also mentioned that the story seemed rather incoherent, particularly because of the time shifts, some people also complained that the movie could have explored more on the father’s criminal life to give more background on the family’s plight. All this is understandable because this is not your classic mob movie view from the male point, from the dealing drugs and killing each other to control the streets.

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Jennifer Esposito Making Fresh Kills

Jennifer Esposito’s experience with Fresh Kills is impressive just by the idea that she has played the role of a director and an actress with a lot of commitment. She signed up for the challenge of not only producing this film in terms of concept but also in terms of financing and she had to mortgaged her house to finance the film, not sure if this is a PR move but that's what I found online. This decision is also in line with her vision of the story she wanted to present a story that gives a new twist to the mafia genre by shifting the focus on the women involved in it. Esposito’s directorial debut was not only about taking up the reins and directing a film but it was about pioneering as the first woman to do so in this particular genre and bringing the female touch to the mob film. She refused many offers to replace her as the director because she wanted to see her vision come true and it proved to be achievable as the film received praise on the festival circuit and audiences that found the movie genuine and thought provoking. As for the acting during the film I can't tell if it was her best but I did like her role, as well as directing it, this shows that she can multi task well in her career.

The Ending and Its Meaning

The last part of the movie is quite dramatic, when Connie is killed by Frankie in the bakery basement, Rose is left to look after for Connie’s young daughter. When Joe comes back from prison and comes back home, Rose is able to finally tell him how his actions affected the family. Joe does not accept any responsibility which is a big turn off for Rose, the last of it. Finally Rose decides to leave with Connie’s child and also the hidden money which Joe had kept with him, this is a really strong scene because it marks Rose’s escape from the violence and silence that has characterized her family. It’s not just that she is running away for herself, she is also trying to provide her niece with a better life. On one hand it is optimistic because Rose is at last beginning to take charge of her life and trying to change the pattern for the next generation, but it’s also a bit of a tragedy because it highlights how much has been forgotten in the process. Connie is dead, the family is broken and Rose has to leave everything she has ever known and just run away. I think this is also a very ambiguous ending, one of the reasons why people would also be mad at the film, imagine jumping into a "MOB" movie to find out its a women inside the MOB and going out the theater empty handed because the ending left questions without answers, so no MOB and lots of questions, this is the case on your most average audience who is there for the adrenaline and dopamine. The movie is mostly about emphasizing on the power of women in such circumstances without going into the now days called "woke" territory, during the movie you can tell how the women in this family are supposed to be passive and supportive, and it is Rose who decides to break free and start a new life.

Once again I think I have said it all about this movie, in my opinion it was a good movie but before watching people need to understand what it is about, because if not you will be expecting something totally different and be disappointing on the film. From the directing, backdrop, costumes, the movie did a great job at trying to represent the 80s and 90s of the MOB times in NY. I wont lie and nothing is perfect, there were some scenes felt a bit slow and could have been further elaborated. This is a 100% drama movie with next to no action considering what a classic mafia movie, over all not a movie that I would watch many times but I did enjoy it, a movie good enough to kill a few hours and still feel satisfied.

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