Ginostra (DVD-Video)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Telefilm: C-

 

 

One of the oddest and strangely failed of all Gangster films of late is Manuel Pradal’s Ginostra, an oddball 2002 drama about an FBI agent (Harvey Keitel) going to Sicily where he lands up having to protect a young child who knows too much about mob activities.  Felling like The Client lite, Keitel is given little to really do despite being the lead, Andie MacDowell plays the wife who actually brings her daughter for the trip (!?!?!) and will that put them in danger too?

 

Then imagine this going on for 139 minutes!  What could have been a good film is foiled by a somewhat pedestrian and idiot plot.  Harry Dean Stanton even shows up and that doesn’t help either.  The action scenes are lame.  I honestly almost fell asleep and can see why this did not work out.  Horror fans should know that Asia Argento shows up, but even that is boring.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is a little soft and is likely an older transfer in this case, especially when the video white print shows up on the screen.  Maurizio Calvesi, A.I.C., shot this and nothing here is very visually memorable.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is weak and sounds like multi-channel was not a consideration much.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo