November 2002 'R Xmas

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Reviewed by Wilson Morales 'R Xmas   Distributor: Pathfinder Pictures Director: Abel Ferrara Screenwriter: Abel Ferrara & Scott Pardo Cast: Drea de Matteo, Lillo Brancato, Ice-T, and Victor Argo Running Time: 85 min There was a time when Director Abel Ferrara had made decent films if not good (King of New York, Bad Lieutenant, and New Rose Hotel). But lately, his vision has been clouded. As a screenwriter, his writing doesn’t offer anything new as the language gets worse and almost amateurish. His latest film, ‘R Xmas, is dull, clichéd, and short. A young Latino couple is trying to make ends meat by selling drugs. The husband (Lillo Brancato) and wife (Drea de Matteo) want the very best for their daughter as Christmas approaches. When the husband is kidnapped while trying to the doll his daughter wants, the kidnappers tell the wife that she has to come up with a lot of money to save her husband. One of the kidnappers (Ice-T) seems to know a lot about the couple and uses the information to his advantage. The wife is at wit’s end as she worries for her life and that of her husband’s. It’s interesting that Brancato and de Matteo, both Italians, are playing a Dominican and a Puerto Rican respectively. Many will know their faces from episodes of the HBO series THE SOPRANOS. Both of them are not to blame for the poor script they were given. Ice-T, currently on Law and Order: SVU, is playing a character so clichéd that one can predict his outcome from the start. For such a short film, just about every word in the vulgar dictionary is used. The title refers to what is supposed to be a nice time during the holidays for a Latin family. What they and we get is a present of a film not worth unwrapping. ‘R Xmas opens November 22 at Cinema Village in New York.