When his grandfather unexpectedly dies, aspiring Hollywood
actor Anthony (Vincent Pagano, Suddenly Susan) brings his
African American girlfriend, Alissa (the radiant Victoria Rowell,
The Young and the Restless) home to meet his traditional
Italian-American family in Providence, Rhode Island and to attend his
grandfather’s funeral. Chaotic and more than a little emotional,
the impromptu family gathering triggers a number of confrontations and
some surprising confessions.Alissa has a great ironic line
when she exclaims in frustration, “This isn’t Guess
Who’s Coming To Dinner thirty years later!”
She’s both right and wrong. Some of the Italian family members
are not prejudiced against her, but some are. Anthony is nearly
spineless in the first act, but he begins to grow a backbone s the
film progresses. Alissa learns how to ebb and flow, while firmly
standing her ground.
This film is a remarkably enjoyable
adventure into the lives of a colorful family. All the actors could
not have been better cast. The warm yet put-upon lead performance by
Pagano (and co-writer) is just right, and the empathetic yet fiery
portrayal of Alissa by Rowell is endearing. The lively supporting cast
offers distinct and often hilarious performances. I busted out
laughing many times, and had to reverse scan a few scenes to get back
on track.
Although A Wake in Providence received
many accolades at film festivals, including an official selection at
both the Boston Film Festival and the New York Independent Film
Festival, and praise from the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York
Times reviewers, it also received some criticism.
Rob
Thomas of the Capital Times reasonably notes that while the film
highlights the main message of love overcoming racism, some Italian-
American stereotypes are reinforced with relish. The Italian family is
a bawdy group with vocal mothers spewing fury and yanking thirty-
something sons’ ears one moment, then dripping with love the
next moment. Previous girlfriends arrive at the wake in skintight
dresses, with big hair and lots of make up, and smack gum as they
shamelessly press up against their former flames. And some cousins,
with slicked back hair, like to pretend they are in the mob.
I suppose some of Thomas’ observations are fair, but I feel
he’s missing the point that much of the Italian-American
behavior on screen (all of which I greatly enjoyed) is done with a lot
of joy and natural bantering. It’s hard for me to see how a film
about such a dramatic family can be offensive. Are all Italian-
American families like this? Of course not. But I felt the tone of the
film is very affectionate about those famous behaviors. And one of the
disc’s supplements is video tape of an Italian American family
upon whom many of the personalities were evidently based. Those
vibrant personalities that exist in life are similar to the
film’s characterizations and obviously provided inspiration for
the screenplay.
Ultimately, the film has well-crafted
elements of respect, weaknesses, humor, and love that touched me. And
with decent direction and editing, and excellent acting, I was truly
entertained. The ending may be predictable and the film isn’t
perfect, but A Wake in Providence was better than I expected
and strongly recommended.
The Video: How Does The
Disc Look?
The film’s theatrical aspect
ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in anamorphic video. Despite being shot
in 35 mm, this transfer stinks. The special screener DVD I received to
review is on a Verbatim recordable dual-layer disc. I’m hoping
that the commercial release will show improvement in the video. The
picture is hazy and sharpness is so poor that objects appear to be
barely in focus. Add some film grain into the mix and things get
worse. Finely grained textures like clothing weaves, hair, skin and
props display poor definition. Hues are frequently under-saturated
with mellow colors like buttery yellows and celery greens really
looking drained. Potentially vibrant reds, fresh greens and blues try
to enliven the atmosphere (like in the grocery store), but they
display average saturation at best. Skintones are similarly faded on
occasion, although soft lighting helps prevent washing out features
like the men’s foreheads.
Contrast is hot and
exacerbates most of the transfer’s problems. Bright whites
frequently bloom and crush, especially in scenes that have sunlight
coming through a large window. Similarly, blacks are compressed so
that darker details are obscured and shadow detail suffers. Blacks
don’t reach deep levels, but even if they did, the contrast
would likely appear hotter. The mid tones of the monochrome scale are
presented better and barely make the film watchable. In some scenes,
edge halos cause some distraction. I noticed a few compression
problems. Most compositions look fine, but on occasion there seemed to
be too much visual space in areas that weren’t flattering like a
huge space to the left of Anthony and Alissa when they were lying on
their bed in California. The overall picture looks like a cheap copy
of a copy. If we can obtain a screener for the commercial release,
we'll revisit the video quality issue.
The Audio:
How Does The Disc Sound?
The audio is presented in
a Dolby Digital stereo track. Dynamic range is average with timid lows
and discernable highs. The mid range is reasonably defined, which adds
some realism to the experience. Some discernable stereo effects of
cars crossing the street and a few other effects give the film a
little more ambiance. Dialogue is fairly clear during close ups, but
when people are rustling around, the natural acoustics can cause
viewers to strain to understand what is being said. Some automated
dialogue replacement is used, which helps. The Italian-influenced
musical score is fairly warm and alive compared to the other elements
in the mix, but it certainly could have been recorded with a more
zesty snap.
No other audio tracks are included, nor are
there any subtitles or closed captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
A
Location Scout featurette (8:19) provides
some fairly washed out video footage of locations, followed by final
scenes from the film. This is an interesting, one-time feature to
watch. Beware that the scenes from the film are complete scenes
(greatly padding this featurette), so it’s advisable to see the
film before this featurette.
Meet the Real Gelati
Family featurette (7:01) simply is video footage
of an Italian-American family gathered for a dinner. The camera is
static and voices echo, but the banter and love reflect much of the
film’s tone. I wish there’d been some kind of
introduction.
Audition Footage
featurette (14:21) is rather faded video of four
of the supporting members’ auditions. This is always a
fascinating type of feature. I found the young Asian boy’s tape
especially interesting; the producers got a huge laugh out of his
tryouts. After each audition, the same scenes are displayed in final
film footage, so refrain from watching this featurette until
you’ve seen the film.
Eight photos are available in
the photo gallery. Three Thirty-Second
Radio Spots (1:39) are included (each of them
sounds nearly identical). Trailers include:
Shrink Wrap, Dingle, Barry, Ski Trip and A Wake in
Providence.
The 94-minute film is organized
into thirteen chapters.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features:
What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.Final
Thoughts
This wonderful independent film is a must
see for those that enjoy Italian-American comedies. Some general
clichés may exist, but the film swept me away with its
unpredictable comedy, excellent casting, and acting. This particular
DVD preview disc exhibited below average picture quality, but it is at
least watchable. I hope the commercial release will offer a picture
quality improvement of this 35 mm film. The audio quality is average
at best, but the DVD does have some interesting supplements. This is
one of those rare occasions when a film is so good that the disc
remains recommended no matter how disappointing the presentation.
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