This Thing of Ours
by Danny Provenzano
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DVD details
Actor: Danny Provenzano, Edward Lynch, Frank Vincent, Louis Vanaria, Vincent PastoreDirector: Danny Provenzano
Brand: MAVERICK ENTERTAINMENT
Writer: Danny Provenzano
Writer: Ted A. Bohus
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
Published: 2006-03-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-03-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Maverick
DVD Reviews of This Thing of Ours
DVD Review: A Thought Provoking Failure
Summary: 2 Stars
Sadly, for the promise the veteran cast held out to me initially, i.e. Frank Vincent, James Caan et.al---Danny Provenzano's This Thing of Ours is a shamelessly derivative, badly executed endeavor. But it is also unexpectedly thought provoking in the issues it raises.
There are scenes in this film approaching unabashed, abject pilferage from the great mob movies. It's well.... Embarrassing.
The brief inclusion of some gratuitous pseudo data re secure site encryption fails to convince us that the "Let's bring the mob into the 21st century & make a billion" scheme at the heart of this movie could ever work.
This project was hardly the suspension of disbelief challenge of say The Da Vinci Code, after all.
As for dialogue, anyone with half an ear---and apparently, Mr. Provenzano, currently a cast member in one of Bravo's Real Housewives franchises as himself, grew up in this milieu---anyone with half an ear can easily pick up and replicate the indigenous specifics, eccentricities, cadences; they are, by now, infamous.
Actually, anyone who has seen any of the classics via Coppola, Scorsese, the neo Shakespearean master, David Chase....can own all of it in the time it takes to screen one movie.
Next, Mr. Provenzano, alas, has no insight at all re human individuals as individuals, and so, no gift for depicting them as such.
Perhaps even more upsetting, given film is a visual medium: he has no ability or instinct to "get"/differentially conjure/record VISUALS, forget storyboard a given scene. That he may have had a shoestring budget DP is no excuse: think Nick Gomez in his genius work from the early 90s, Laws of Gravity. The polar opposition will provide perspective.
Next, Mr. P. has little grasp of the crucial to nail nuances of editing. The formidable Thelma Schoonmaker always happily affirms she simply augments Mr. Scorsese's fastidious vision, frame by frame (now also pixel by pixel) often after exhaustive exploration and debate they both thrive on in the editing room.
But for me, beyond all of the above disappointments, most embarrassing of all: it appears Mr. Provenzano actually believes that the cliché accoutrements of living large within this ghetto sensibility are what living large really is.
In Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese, with his laser eye for detail, offers us tacky decor, vulgar, sherbet colored Cadillac coupes, white minks & Christmas trees, along with infinite related aberrations his characters are moved to. As with everything else not arbitrary in his movies he is endowed to Bring, he does this to inform and enrich us.
Interesting that the only. brief, organically lyrical footage in this movie is a requisite private jet making a dramatic, , upwardly arching move in flight.
The related cliché inclusion of a Benz convertible in this movie is compounded by that someone chose...candy apple red. Such unwitting relegations are common in all ghetto subcultures, but my take is Mr. Provenzano may actually not get this. Any more than some of the principals in the Real Housewives series in which he currently appears get it.
One wonders if Mr. P. in this effort, was emulating one of David Chase's brilliantly conceived characters in The Sopranos: Christopher...in whom Mr. Chase imbued a blind, rabid, delusional conviction that he could be a filmmaker depicting the milieu he was a part of.
At heart, all of Mr. Chase's characters are desperate, empty souls. In his profound understanding of and empathy for many of them, remarkably, he envies none. Not even secretly. I am not convinced this is true for either Mr. Coppola or Mr. Scorsese, and I cherish both.
Mr. Provenzano's envy, though, is palpable. On the other hand. it is possible he only could have gotten this impressive veteran cast onboard, maybe for fqr less than scale,if not gratis, as some "homage" to what one of his relatives is rumored to have been a party to back in the day
re Jimmy Hoffa.
We can't change the past, but we can earn our way out of its downside legacy over time. But only if we get there may well be a downside.
I caught a comment in one of the reviews here re HBO quality vs theatrical release quality (sigh) and can not let that go unaddressed.
Fact is, HBO, over time, has morphed into a precious venue for true genius in ways studios do only rarely. HBO manifests the differential clarity & gonads to produce properties others never would. David Chase pitched The Sopranos all over the land for years; nobody would go there. HBO got him, got it and went there. The rest, as they say, is history. Not to mention such as the singular Angels in America.
Finally re This Thing of Ours, this is still America, where opportunities, if earned, are sometimes afforded, and trying always deserves credit.
Of course, one always hopes for honest & enlightened efforts in all things.
Real talent can not be learned in a classroom, but many of the greats went to film school. I might suggest that Mr. P. make some REAL bones by following in those footsteps.
On the hopeful side, given the ending of this movie (endgame Michael Corleone alienation/regret/sadness/loneliness), I would like to believe Mr. Provenzano may honestly get some part of the "Be careful what you wish for" phenomenon, especially within this and other truncated subcultures.
But frankly...it would take a lot to convince me.
Description of This Thing of Ours
This mob picture comes with a high pedigree: Director co-writer and star Danny Provenzano (VAMPIRE VIXENS FROM VENUS) is a bit of a mobster in real life; he's pleaded guilty to racketeering and his great uncle is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. In his directorial debut Provenzano brings gritty authority to his tale of mobsters using computers for the ultimate heist. Looking to "earn his nut" with the organization Nick (Provenzano) and two buddies orchestrate a complex way of skimming money off of the top of global online bank transfers via the Internet. Unfortunately they need to raise $50000 to get it off the ground and so they turn to the old-school mafia guys for the cash in the process dragging them "kicking and screaming into the 21st century." Naturally once the billions start piling up betrayal greed and a lot of blood and gunfire follow. The film benefits from a nicely mixed cast of fresh-picked off-the-mean-streets newcomers and familiar mob movie faces like James Caan (GODFATHER) Vincent Pastore (SOPRANOS) Frank Vincent (GOODFELLAS) and comedian Pat Cooper (ANALYZE THIS). The tough-talk dialogue is diverting with nice use of Tarantino-esque pop culture references. Provenzano infuses the film with a perfectly seedy ambience.System Requirements:Running Time 100 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:¬?DRAMA Rating:¬?NR UPC:¬?824355516425 Manufacturer No:¬?MAV-5164Bestsellers in DVD
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