Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Michael Rapaport | ... | Dante | |
Lili Taylor | ... | Micky | |
Adam Trese | ... | Gabriel | |
Kevin Corrigan | ... | Francis (Cisco) | |
Angela Featherstone | ... | Lilly | |
Tony Danza | ... | D'Avalon | |
Isaac Hayes | ... | George | |
Paul Schulze | ... | Lucas | |
Saul Stein | ... | Gunther | |
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Adam Cartwright | ... | The Kid |
Eddie Kaye Thomas | ... | Young Flaco | |
Ian Marioles | ... | Will Noney | |
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Melanie Adams | ... | Eristina |
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Mauricio Conpte | ... | Pep Lecara |
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Matt McLane | ... | Ghost Machine |
Dante and his girlifrend Micky run a very profitable drug operation in a seaside town, aided and abetted by a host of teens who sell the smack at discos around town, as well as by Lucas, a corrupt cop who's on the take. Their downfall comes when they suspect one of the boys, Pep, of ripping them off, and his accidental death causes disloyalty among the teens, who suspect Dante offed them. All of this is perfect for the return of Gabriel, a one-time partner of Dante, who has just been released from jail, and has an almost angelic demeanor and the certainty that he can fix everyone's lives. Written by Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>
Illtown's a startling 180 from the documentaryish "Laws of Gravity", from the same director and much of the same supporting cast...this is a dreamlike, strangely structured film about drug dealers that sets up an expectation of a typical revenge flick, but by the end we don't quite know who's the "good" guys or the "bad" guys, and despite the narrative setting up one set of characters as the protagonists, the antagonist ends up in many ways as sympathetic, if not more, for this is a film that doesn't fill us in on the backstory for some time...watch it for Corrigan's great monologue about his wife three quarters of the way in, just one of many great moments in this truly weird, violent, unsettling film...