DONNIE BRASCO
A film review by Michael Redman
Copyright 1997 Michael Redman
***1/2 (Out of ****)
In the late seventies, the FBI was determined to bring down the mob and sent one of their own into the middle of it, underground with little support. Living with the crime bosses for six years, agent Joe Pistone (code named "Donnie Brasco" and played by Johnny Depp) forms an unexpected deep friendship with his mentor Lefty (Al Pacino).
Lefty is the opposite of the romantic vision of organized crime that we have seen often on the big screen. His personal problems (cancer, a junkie son) weigh heavy on his mind as does the fact that he is stuck in a middle level mafioso job passed by for promotion. He's devoted his life to his job and the family and knows that his career is going nowhere. In many ways he is no different than any other aging work-a-day stiff understanding that he is at a dead end. Of course, for Mafia employees, "dead"end has an entirely different meaning.
It is no shock that Al Pacino is grand in his untypical downbeat gangster role. And it has become apparent that it should no longer be any surprise that Johnny Depp turns in a fine performance. Refusing to be typecast in the pretty-boy role that was his in the throw-away television series that was his public launching, Depp has given skilled exhibitions in a wide variety of parts. Moving beyond the hip boy, here he is a bit older and a bit wiser.
[This appeared in the 3/20/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ]
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