Amazon.com

Children are so ill prepared to deal with the shortcomings of their parents that, when they inevitably discover that mom and dad have feet of clay, they tend to overreact. That's part of the lesson in this film, based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Sheila Ballantyne. Harvey Keitel is a 1950s widower with two daughters, played by Fairuza Balk and Elisabeth Moss. A guy with lots of dreams, a convincing line of patter, and very little to back up either, he hustles to keep his family together, doing what he feels is the best he can to keep food on the table on clothes on their backs. But his loneliness, his drinking--and, ultimately, his inability to be a square dealer with the business associates he's cheating--contribute to his older daughter's disillusionment. Strong performances by Keitel, who is surprisingly touching, and Balk, who captures the mood-swing roller coaster of adolescence, complicated by being forced to grow up before her time. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Affecting Drama From Anthony Drazan
Is the wish for love greater than the need to hate? An interesting question posed by, and the complexity of which is examined in this film about the effects of the decisions we make during the course of our lives, and how those decisions ultimately affect our families and loved ones. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Sheila Ballantyne, "Imaginary Crimes," directed by Anthony Drazan, stars Harvey Keitel as a widowed father raising two young daughters in 1950s Oregon. Ray Weiler (Keitel) is no role model for fathers, however. In fact, in the words of the author, "Never has a man less equipped for parenthood tried so hard." And failed, she should have added. Ray is not a "bad" man, per se, but he's a dreamer and a schemer, following one deal of a lifetime after another that, up until the day she died, kept Valery (Kelly Lynch) and their daughters, Sonya (Fairuza Balk) and Greta (Elisabeth Moss) living in a one room basement apartment. To the very end, Valery was always a "technicality" away from what she wanted most: A home of her own. And when she died, that dream apparently died with her. Ray's dreams, however, continued; as did the dark clouds his lifestyle cast over the Weilers, beneath which they were forced to live every day without hope or respite. A dreary life, indeed, for two young girls with nowhere to turn.

Told through the reminiscences of Sonya (with Balk providing effective voice-over narration), the story unfolds with the help of flashbacks which reflect the turmoil of young Sonya and Greta's lives with Ray. The sequences involving Valery are especially poignant, and presented with such care and subtly that it enables you to feel and share her every disappointment-- and there were many. You also share her joy at winning a simple raffle at the neighborhood movie theater, where she would escape with Sonya every Wednesday night. And when Sonya points out the fact that her mother cried at every film, no matter what it was, it says volumes about Valery's state of mind and the despair and unhappiness with which she lived, yet masked so convincingly in front of Sonya. It's also easy to understand the bond between the sisters, formed as a means of steeling themselves against the unconscionable neglect of their father. Though not physically abusive, the pain he inflicted on his daughters psychologically was immeasurable. Yet they stood by him; perhaps because they had nowhere else to go and no one to whom they could turn.

Filmed on location in Oregon, the film has a wistful, almost dreamlike quality that successfully reflects the era it depicts, as well as the overall mood of the story, aided in no small part by the atmosphere director Drazan creates. He renders a touching sense of injustice that keeps the viewer acutely aware of the helpless and seemingly inescapable situation in which the girls are forced to remain, and he makes the girls so readily accessible that it is easy to emphasize with them. And it makes you realize that even as big as the world is, everybody lives within their own little part, and it's different for every individual. The world of your next door neighbor may not resemble the world in which you live in any way, shape or form; and because of that, need often goes undetected and want thrives.

As Ray, Harvey Keitel is outstanding, giving a restrained and understated performance that allows you to like him and hate him at the same time. This is a complex character that Keitel develops extremely well, showing you the schemer and the con-man, but also giving you something of an indication of what lies beneath. This is a man capable of disciplined introspection, yet too selfish to do what he must know is the right thing by his family. He's a man who is past believing in himself, but has actually fallen victim to his own con and is unable to let loose of his irresponsible dreams. It's a strong performance, through which he paints the picture of a desperate man, who has no idea of just how desperate he is until it's too late. And the saddest thing about it is the effect it has on Sonya and Greta.

Giving an affecting performance, as well, is the young Fairuza Balk, whose dark beauty and intensity make her perfect for the role of Sonya. She has such expressive eyes that they veritably serve as a window into the soul of her character, which nevertheless seems to emerge from a very private place, and one that gives it definition. Like Keitel, Balk's performance is rather restrained, which gives even more power to her already mesmerizing screen presence. She makes you understand how her circumstances have affected her, which she subtly conveys in the way she relates to those around her, including Greta. There's a sense of the exceptional about Balk, who in an industry filled with young actors seemingly just off the production line, remains unique and has served herself and her career well by exploring some diverse characters in such films as "American History X," "Things To do In Denver When You're Dead," "The Waterboy" and possibly her most definitive role, as that of the young witch in "The Craft." Sonya is one of her more down-to-earth characters, and she delivers her quite well.

The supporting cast includes Vincent D'Onofrio (Mr. Webster), Diane Baker (Abigail Tate), Chris Penn (Jarvis), Amber Benson (Margaret), Annette O'Toole (Ginny) and Seymour Cassel (Eddie). Thought provoking and emotionally involving, "Imaginary Crimes" will take you to a dark place, and it's one that may be all too familiar to some who see this film. This is no happily-ever-after fairy tale, but a very real look at some hard facts about the world in which we live and the people who surround us, and the necessity of reaching out to those who just may be in need.

Imaginary Movie
Even a great actor like Harvey Keitel cannot save this film. Mr. Keitel does the best with what they give him which is almost nothing. Keitel is the patriarch of a family that suffers through his continuous schemes to make money, most of them centered around non-existant mining operation swindals. If you're going to make a movie about con games then at least tell us something about them - that might make a movie interesting! If Keitel's unconventional attempts to earn a living are meant as a backdrop for a story about family relationships, fine, give us inter-personal drama, but we don't get that either. This film drags along and is simply forgetable and regretable. Nothing happens in this film - NOTHING.

Willie Loman with daughters
This is a great movie. I'm amazed that it got made and done so well. First kudos go to Sheila Ballantyne who wrote the novel. A story like this cannot be made up in committee or by hiring the hottest screen writer in town. It has to be lived. There's no question that Ballantyne lived it. And then it has to be understood in the light of love before it can be shared with us. And she did that.

Second kudos go to Tony Drazan who directed and interpreted. It can be seen that he loved the story and he wanted it to be beautiful, and he made it so. He picked the dearest, sweetest girls to play the parts of Sonya and Greta at various ages. And he had to have the right man for their father, a flawed man, like all of us, a man doing the best he can, a man with values that don't really work, a man who lost his young wife to cancer and was left to raise his two daughters alone, a man like Arthur Miller's Willie Loman who had big dreams never realized, a man neither hero nor villain; in short a man who had to be played with delicacy and without maudlin sentiment. Harvey Keitel fit the part, that of a schemer and a dreamer and a self-deluded hustling con man, and did a fantastic, flawless job.

Fairuza Balk, who played Sonya was wonderful, and Elizabeth Moss as Greta was adorable beyond expression, and so beautifully directed. The girl who played the young Sonya was not only excellent, but looked enough like Fairuza Balk to be her younger sister: perfect casting. And Kelly Lynch who had a limited role as the mother was exquisite.

The interaction between the father and the daughters was painfully veracious, filled with real-life tension and heart-breaking disappointments, but done without abuse and without any of the dysfunctional family sicknesses so often expressed these days. We see his failure as a father on one level, and yet in the end we see through the eyes and the voice of Sonya a greater truth: in spite of his weaknesses he actually succeeded as a father. In fact we see that whether he knew it or not, the one thing that he did right in his life, although he wavered plenty, was bringing up his girls against the great odds of his defective character. And the love shown him by his daughters, so beautifully projected by both Balk and Moss, was wonderful to experience since it is so seldom seen these days when the usual style is to trash men and their part in the family. And the nonexploitive, nurturing and loving role of Sonya's English teacher, played with a fine delicacy by Vincent D'Onfrio, was a much-needed change from the usual cinematic use of teachers as sexual lechers. In this movie we can see that men are people too.

I should mention that the screenplay by Kristine Johnson and Davia Nelson was carefully crafted to showcase the story dramatically, and to warn you that this is a tear jerker. It starts a little slow, and seems a touch old fashioned, but stay with it: it's a beautiful movie, one the best I've ever seen.

Fairuza Balk is wonderful
Even as young as she was here, Fairuza Balk was wonderful in this movie. Harvey Keitel, one of the best character actors around, also did a wonderful job. Wonderful movie!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

A hard-hitting and impressive low-budget independent film about love and racism, Zebrahead is a volatile mix of social commentary and powerful acting. Michael Rapaport (Mighty Aphrodite, Beautiful Girls) is a white urban high school student enamored of black rap culture who pursues and falls in love with the cousin (N'Bushe Wright) of his black best friend. Their intense romance brings out racial tensions in their school, among their friends and at home. Problems escalate as a notorious gang banger goes after the girl, forcing a schoolwide confrontation with violent results. With the flavor of a modern urban Romeo and Juliet love story and a showcase for the debut of two exceptional young actors, Zebrahead is a provocative sleeper film well worth checking out. --Robert Lane ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Excellent!
A beautiful, realistic Romeo and Juliet drama. The acting was wonderful, the writing brilliant. My only compliant is that more people haven't seen this movie, or heard of it. Definitly something I recommend to lovers of urban dramas.

honest and realistic
I love this movie. Really, really love it. I went to a school like this with kids like these.I was in the cafeteria and some other places durring the days racially-charged situations almost went to critical mass, and I was part of a group discussion the following week, in which nothing was resolved.

Which is what I like most about this movie. It doesn't end with everyone singing. Or dancing, or marching towards the camera, or anything like that. The goomba and the Spike Lee guy duke it out while the Asian girl despairs, and the white guy and black girl embrace each other hopelessly. That is life. Some differences will never be resolved, and the best you can hope for is that *some* people will reach each other. I was praying all along that this would not have some pat ending that could never have happened at my school, and I was rewarded. There are no resolutions, just moments.

SHADES OF WEST SIDE STORY AND ROMEO AND JULIET...
This is an intriguing independent film, deftly directed by Anthony Drazan, which explores the concepts of interracial romance and reactive racism. Done in the best tradition of independent films, it features some powerhouse performances and a provocative storyline.

The film takes place in Detroit, Michigan, a predominantly black city. Zack (Michael Rappaport) is a white, middle class, jewish, urban teenager whose mother died when he was young. He lives with his father, Richard (Ray Starkey), an erstwhile swinger and owner of an inner city music store. Zack attends the predominantly black, local public high school, and his best friend, Dee (DeShonn Castle), is also black and middle class. Zack is very taken with black culture.

When Dee's cousin, Nikki (N'Bushe Wright), who is black and from East New York, Brooklyn, moves into town, Zack, who has just been dumped by his white girlfriend, finds himself smitten by her. They gradually begin a romance that attracts a lot of unwanted attention. When the high school hot head and bad boy, Nut (Ron Johnson), a black gang banger wanna be, develops the hots for Nikki, it is the beginning of the end with the inevitable violent result.

This is a surprisingly good film with superlative performances by Michael Rappaport, DeShonn Castle, Ron Johnson, N'Bushe Wright, and the late Ray Starkey. The tension throughout the movie is kept taut and believable. Though somewhat predictable, the film manages to keep the viewer engaged throughout. This is a well made film that deserves a viewing.

N'BUSHE WRIGHT is great!

ZEBRAHEAD

Michael Rappaport, N'Bushe Wright, 1992

Synopsis

A white Jewish teenager (Rappaport) attending a predominantly black high school in Detroit, Michigan has a best friend who is black. The teen listens to rap, r&b and eventually starts to date Nikki (Wright), who is also black. When a local gang-banger pursues Nikki for himself, situations explode in violence.

My Review

An Oliver Stone film, and debut roles for both Rappaport and beautiful N'Bushe Wright. The story is authentic and it works. The film has some side stories, and dialogue that provoke the viewer to think deeper into the lives of the characters. An interesting, refreshing look at urban life and interracial romance.

Well Done
"Zebrahead" was a movie that Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" should have been. I'm not saying that "Jungle Fever" was a bad movie, I just felt as though "Jungle Fever" was more about a family helping a crackhead son instead of interracial love. "Zebrahead" had a great story with excellent actors and suspense. Micheal Rapaport is a wonderful actor and really showed his colors in this one. N'Bushe Wright portrayed her role as the no nonsense Nikki flawlessly, I would like to see more of her in movies. It seemed like the actors ad-libbed most of the time and it made the movie more humble and realistic. Great stuff all around! ... Read more

Reviews (69)

beautiful
What you must know going into this movie is that you will not be passive about it. You will either love this movie or you will hate it. Many people say it drags on, lacks plot, etc, but I completely disagree. It is a movie about modernism, post modernism, post post modernism, all those absurdities of modern artists, especially existentialism. This is a movie about the next lost generation, people living in a world with no comfort for those who find it goes by too fast for them to find anything to feel passionate about. These people are searching for something, anything, to crave, and we as the viewers simply are introduced to a splice of their thoughts, hopes, dreams, etc. Anna Paquin is amazing in one of her first starring roles since The Piano; her progress as an actress is nothing short of spectacular. Meg Ryan finally sheds her ever-present cuteness and dares to take a role completely unlike any of her others, and does it impeccably. The chemistry between Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn is gripping as always, as they slip into new, absurdly off-center roles. Kevin Spacey is stunning. I love that this movie was created by many of the actors in it, I love the intelligence and creativity they gave it. This is one of my favorite movies, but it is clearly not for everyone.

One word... WOW!!!
I stumbled across this movie "by accident", flipping through the channels like many young Americans, and somehow I stopped dead in my tracks when I got to Hurlyburly. I was attracted to the movie initially by the top-notch actors, but after viewing it from start to finish at that one sitting, I found myself wanting to see it over and over again.

Sean Penn takes his "bad boy" reputation to another level in this well written screen adaptation of the play of the same name. He is so beleivable as Eddie that one might think he isn't even acting at all! That is when you realize you are truly watching one of the best actors in the business. Kevin Spacey, what can you say? He is just as impressive as ever in his role as the cynical Mickey, truly showing his great range and talent as an actor. Chazz Palminteri and Garry Shandling are also stunning in their respective roles as Phil and Artie. Cameos from Meg Ryan, Anna Paquin, and Robin Wright Penn help round out one of the absolute best acting lineups I have seen in a long, long time.

One of the true triumphs of the movie is the excellence to which it is written. The dialogue can be vulgar and lewd at times, but it remains poetic while doing so. The fact is that the world we find ourselves watching is in fact vulgar and lewd, out of control and senseless, but when you step back for a birds eye view, what you find yourself watching is a spin off of today's society. The dialogue, though drug induced in the film, speaks loud and clear to the viewer and watching these characters live their somewhat failed lives while analyzing every bit of it in an eloquent way is ironic, but breathtaking.

There is no "middle ground" with this movie, however. You will know right away whether you are going to love it or hate it, but all serious movie fans and fans of true acting in general, owe it to themselves to at least give this picture a chance.

"I can not stand this semantic insanity anymore!"
I like to find one quote from a movie to use as the header in my reviews - something that is hopefully interesting and perhaps funny, and indicates my feeling toward the movie. The quote is from Darlene (played by Robin Wright Penn) in response to boyfriend Eddie's (Sean Penn) argument about why she can not like Chinese and French restaurants equally.

In most scenes, coke-head Eddie's anger comes from nowhere, but he must try to make it sound as if he's talking about something. Long speeches and big words do not necessarily make a point. Although his room-mate, Mickey, played by Kevin Spacey dishes out speeches as well, it is less overwhelming and makes a little more sense. Perhaps it is because he does not do nearly as much drugs as Sean Penn's character. Another role played by Chazz Palminteri was offensive. It had one note to it, which was to yell, then yell some more, then get physically abusive with women. Anna Paquin's appearance as a street urchin passed off by Artie, played by Garry Shandling, was interesting and not her normal type of character.

The acting was pretty good. The point, plot, and characters were not. One interesting scene was a conversation that was started face-to-face, then continued at different locations via cell-phones over the course of the day.

DVD sound and picture were good. Has 2 OK commentaries.

As Eddie said on more than one occasion..."blah, blah, blah."

Fun yet disturbing.
I was surprised I hadn't heard of this film before, considering the box-office draw of the actors involved. I then realized after putting it on that it was more of a 'vanity' picture. A literary book rather than a 'blockbuster' novel. It's taken from a play, is of course very theatrical and allows the actors involved to flex a bit more of their acting muscle than they would have been given in a conventional Hollywood movie. It's a very masculine play and is quite satirical on the nature of men's emotional inadequeces. Whether they be childish emotions (Sean Penn, Chazz Palminteri) or just plainly non-emotional (Kevin Spacey, Garry Shandling). It also makes no disguise of the characters' blatent mysoginy, exploring the darker side of the male psyche with comedic results. The fast-paced, intelligent dialogue makes it a pleasant change from the usual mid-west subject matter.

I started to feel slightly relieved when I thought that this mightn't be an exploration of men's psychological make-up, but rather a satire on Hollywood movie executives. However concern started creeping back in when I realized these could be some of the brains behind what we consume on TV and at the movies.

One can only wonder who gets it?
Who gets it? All the critics who raved and gave this movie a 5? Or the rest of the world who gives it a 1? I mean, I could see certain people giving it a 3 for the acting...I have to disagree with those who say it's boring, though. It's not so much "boring" and "pointless" and "pretentious." You can watch it in short doses, just like you can watch a train wreck, but you catch on really quick that none of the characters have any redeeming qualities and they are headed very slowly to nowhere.

If that's what you like in a movie, this is your movie. ... Read more