Off Jackson Avenue (2008)

Director:

John-Luke Montias

Writer:

John-Luke Montias (writer)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Some parts of New York aren't on any map.

Plot:

Off Jackson Avenue is an interwoven crime story set in New York City involving a Mexican woman who has...

Plot Keywords:

New York City | Sex Slavery | Car Thief | Albanian | Multiple Story Line

Cast

Jessica Pimentel	...	Olivia
Stivi Paskoski	...	Milot
Jun Suenaga	...	Tomo
John-Luke Montias	...	Joey
Aya Cash	...	Olga
Gene Ruffini	...	Uncle Jack
Daniel Oreskes	...	Ivan
Judith Hawking	...	Donna
Michael Gnat	...	Wall Street Jimmy
Antonio Mastrantonio	...	Tommy
Richard Petrocelli	...	Dino
Jackson Loo	...	Wu
Grant Chang	...	Li
Sonia De Los Santos	...	Semka
Alona Tarniak	...	Dascha

Runtime:

USA:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese | Japanese | Spanish | Mandarin | Albanian | Russian

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Long Island City, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Goltzius Productions

Trivia:

Title used when shooting was "JACKSON AVENUE HUSTLE". But after the film was finished, producers decided that the title was too flippant in regard to some of the scenes that take place in the film .

Raw, real, an indie gem

Several strangers are connected unawares and those points of contact will bring them into collision. This kind of construction is exciting when executed well, as in "Amores Perros", and again here in "Off Jackson Avenue." A violent Albanian pimp (Stivi Paskoski), a victimized Mexican immigrant (Jessica Pimental), a carjacker (John-Luke Montias) and a Japanese schoolteacher who moonlights as a hit-man (Jun Suenaga)will profoundly impact each other's lives, literally and figuratively. Warning: The brutalization of a young girl is hard-to-watch and enraging. But there is justice, satisfying justice, in the working out of things.

Aside from Mr. Paskoski, none of the actors have a long resume, yet all the characters come across vivid and true. You wouldn't know they were acting. When everyone in a movie is good, praise the director. And he is John-Luke Montias who directs here as well as acts. He also wrote the taut, efficient script. The language is raw, real, and in the case of a Chinese entrepreneur who hires the hit-man, a pungent delight. Jun Suenaga's moonlighting English teacher is fun and funny. I'd hang with him and a bottle of Scotch any old time.

"Off Jackson Avenue" is a gem. Hopefully, it will get a wide distribution. But most indies do not. While it is still available to see in a real movie house, it is well worth the price of a ticket. At just under 80 minutes, not a frame of film or a line of dialogue is wasted. Jim Smith