The Funeral . Tucson Weekly . 01-30-97

The Funeral

DIRECTED BY: Abel Ferrara

REVIEWED: 01-30-97

Schlock-master Abel Ferrara does his best once again to blur the line between high art and kitsch in this reprise of the classic mobster movie. Christopher Walken plays a bad guy (or is he a good guy?) seeking vengeance for his brother Johnny's violent death. Through a whole bunch of flashbacks, we learn Johnny was a good kid (or was he really bad?) who cared for loose women and the working man. Ferrara and his writer, Nicholas St. John, are fascinated by the kind of moral and philosophical questions that plague most of us during adolescence, but without the conviction of youth. The characters like to muse about the nature of morality, then shoot holes in one another's chests. Still, there's something sickly fascinating about this very bad movie: The sex is weird and the production values are slightly off. It's as if it were made by space aliens.

--Stacey Richter

Full Length Reviews
The Funeral
The Funeral

Other Films by Abel Ferrara
Body Snatchers
The Addiction

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