Illtown . Newcity Chicago . 02-02-98

Illtown

DIRECTED BY: Nick Gomez

REVIEWED: 02-02-98

Nick Gomez' " Laws of Gravity," made for $42,000, was one of the best directorial debuts in years, energetic and idiosyncratic even while derivative of Scorsesian street sagas. His latest, "illtown," is beautifully shot by Jim Deneault, whose black-and-white images for "Nadja" and grimy color for "River of Grass," already impressed. "illtown" is incredibly handsome-looking, and boasts a cast of indiefilm stalwarts -- Michael Rapaport, Lili Taylor, Kevin Corrigan, Adam Trese -- running through Gomez' tale of mid-level drug dealers losing their cool, told in the style of the garish bubblegum hyperrealism of contemporary Hong Kong movies. Gomez gets down the particulars of the look and feel of contemporary central Florida, but many audiences will get lost in his variations on "Paradise Lost," with two bands of renegade fallen angels exterminating each other with great violence and little joy. It's a bold grab for the mythic, but delirium is a hard thing to sustain.

--Ray Pride

Full Length Reviews
Illtown

Capsule Reviews
Illtown
Illtown

Other Films by Nick Gomez
Laws of Gravity

Film Vault Suggested Links
A Time to Kill
Clockers
Cop Land

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