Someone Else's America (1995)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Goran Paskaljevic

Writer:

Gordan Mihic (writer)

Release Date:

10 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Two friends, two worlds, one dream.

Plot:

This tale take place in a bar. The Spanish Alonso and his blind mother run this place. Bay, who is Alonso's friend live here too...

Plot Keywords:

Immigration

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tom Conti	...	Alonso
Miki Manojlovic	...	Bayo
María Casares	...	Alonso's Mother
Zorka Manojlovic	...	Bayo's Mother
Sergej Trifunovic	...	Lukas
José Ramón Rosario	...	Panchito
Lanny Flaherty	...	Guide
Mihalis Giannatos	...	Greek Agent (as Michalis Yannatos)
Michael Willis	...	Foreman
Predrag Ejdus	...	Doctor
Chia-Ching Niu	...	Chinese Girl
Andjela Stojkovic	...	Savka
Lazar Kalmic	...	Pepo
Ananda Ellis	...	Afisi
John Norman Thomas	...	Afisi's Brother

Also Known As:

L'Amérique des autres
Paradies, Brooklyn (Germany)
Tudja Amerika (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Serbo-Croatian title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

France | UK | Germany | Greece | Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:MA | Germany:6 (bw) | Spain:7 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Canal+

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the end of the movie as the family are loading the car to drive to San Francisco, the track for the camera is visible in the reflection on the car door and side.

Quotes:

Alonso: I got no luck in America. I never gonna get married.

The movie doesn't quite coalesce

The magic realism intent of the finale is spoilt by poor optical work, and in general the movie is a catalogue of good ideas indifferently executed, or undermined by an affinity for hammy acting, boisterous comedy (the bantering between Conti and Manojlovic gets tiresome quite early on), and a disappointingly straightforward style - the whole thing looks overwhelmed by compromise. It comes close to so many things though - potentially acting as a kaleidoscope on the complex possibilities of America and the vast cultural compromise (in parts both sweeping and subtle) that's required of the immigrant: the eldest son effortlessly becomes an entrepreneur (portrayed with a cold-lipped hard-edge to him that can't help but distance us); Conti achieves the thinnest illusion of success; Manojlovic remains in the past, defiantly clutching his rooster (typical of his experience in the New World, when he obtains an egg in order to provide the rooster a chicken, it hatches into another rooster) and mourning his son who died in crossing from Mexico; others find a self-deluding equilibrium between past and present; but the ultimate arrival-point of old Granny shows all steps are possible. It's a great theme and a great title, worthy of a film of astonishing range and potency, but that's not achieved here - maybe the logistical challenge of making this all coalesce was just too ambitious for a director who's himself a stranger to America.