Little Odessa (1994)

This film tells a bitter tale of a dysfunctional family. Joshua, a cold-blooded professional killer, returns to his Brighton Beach boyhood home for a "job." He knows it will be difficult to... See full summary »

Director:

James Gray

Writer:

James Gray

Stars:

Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tim Roth	...	Joshua Shapira
Edward Furlong	...	Reuben Shapira
Moira Kelly	...	Alla Shustervich
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Irina Shapira
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Boris Volkoff
Natalya Andreychenko	...	Natasha
Maximilian Schell	...	Arkady Shapira
David Vadim	...	Sasha
Mina Bern	...	Grandma Tsilya
Boris McGiver	...	Ivan
Mohammed Ghaffari	...	Pahlevi
Michael Khmurov	...	Yuri
Dmitry Preyers	...	Victor
David Ross	...	Anatoly
Ron Brice	...	Man with one leg

Storyline

This film tells a bitter tale of a dysfunctional family. Joshua, a cold-blooded professional killer, returns to his Brighton Beach boyhood home for a "job." He knows it will be difficult to return to the Russian-immigrant community of his youth--in his eyes, we see anticipation of the inevitable emotional pain and psychic turmoil that seeing his forsaken family and estranged companions will bring him. To do his job, and try to maintain some semblence of sanity, he has had to wall off his humanity from even himself. Seeing his kid brother, who adores him, talking with his dying mother, who still loves him, and yes, arguing with his abusive father, begins to wreak havoc with his personal defenses. As his steely demeanor begins to dissolve, we are shown the soul of a hit-man crumbling away, piece by piece. Finally, all that he now allows himself to admit that he loves is agonizingly torn away from him and he is left with the ultimate punishment for his transgressions.

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Plot Keywords:

mother | dysfunctional family | abusive father | female nudity | assassination | 

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Taglines:

Between good and evil and heaven and hell is...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong shootings, sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Fine Line

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Contract Killer

Filming Locations:

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,300,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$1,095,885 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fine Line Features, Live Entertainment, New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film contains just 454 shots in about 92 minutes of action (i.e. excluding the credits). This equates to an average shot length of about 12 seconds. This is very long compared to the 3 - 6 second standard of most Hollywood films made in the 1990s.

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Goofs

In the scenes where Mr. Schell is supposedly speaking Russian, his language is unintelligible beyond the simplest words.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Joshua Shapira: It's done.

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Connections

Features Vengeance Valley (1951)

User Reviews

The prodigal son returns.

Writer/director James Gray's (We Own the Night) first film was critically acclaimed for it's cinematography and for performances by Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell. It is not an action film, even though the main character is a hit-man. It is a drama about family and shame.

Mr. Orange, Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Incredible Hulk) plays a son who has been disowned for bringing shame on the family by his behavior. He returns to Brighton Beach to do a job, and reunites with his family as his mother lays dying. He also reunited with Moira Kelly, much to the delight of movie viewers.

About the only one happy to see him was his younger brother Rueban, played by Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Pecker). Well, mom was happy, but moms are always happy no matter how bad their children are - trust me on that.

Violence was at a minimum for a Russian Mafia/hit-man picture, and the focus was on the family. Maximilian Schell was excellent as the father that made piece just for a moment to allow Redgrave to see her son.

Gray's first film has nuance and subtlety not often seen in a film featuring the mafia.