LITTLE ODESSA

The smoky, somber byways of Brooklyn's Brighton Beach-called Little Odessa by the Russian immigrants who have settled there-is the landscape in which a family is exposed in a drama pitting one against the other. Director James Gray assembles a phenomenal cast for his feature-film debut: Tim Roth as Joshua, a hit man disowned by his family; Vanessa Redgrave as his dignified, dying mother; Maximillian Schell as his volatile, demoralized father; and Edward Furlong as his teenage brother who is caught between the respect due to his parents and the hero-worship he has for his brother. Roth delivers an exceptional performance as the family's black sheep, haunting the dark streets of his youth, determined to see his mother once more before she dies. The web tightens when the Russian Mafia gets involved, and betrayal is met by betrayal. A compellong treatise on death and living death, LITTLE ODESSA is a brilliantly acheived with unforgettable images and beautifully sketched scenes of love and tenderness, violence and despair.