DVD Mac

The pressure of building and running a business takes its toll on Mac and his relationship with his brothers. The film is about a man with a dollar and a dream and how his dream seems not to be shared by those whom he loves most. Michael Badalucco is excellent as Vico, as is Carlo Capotorto as Bruno. Mac's wife, Alice, a young woman with a contemporary veneer, is well played by Katherine Borowitz, though she seems a tad out of place in Queens, New York of the nineteen fifties, where the film takes place. Ellen Barkin strikes a wrong note as the free spirited Oona, and Jon Amos as Nat, a fellow construction worker who throws in his lot with those of the Vitelli Brothers, is excellent, though one wonders at the racial harmony displayed by the construction industry of the nineteen fifties. This, too, strikes a false note.

A number of John Turturro's relatives crop up throughout the film. Aida Turturro of Soprano fame pops up as part of a husband and wife team who are among the first to buy one of Mac's houses. Nicholas Turturro of NYPD Blue fame appears in the role of Tony Gloves. John Turturro, himself, is excellent as Mac, but falters in the directorial department. The film, a loving look at an Italian American family in the construction trade, is a little too choppy to pass muster, though it gamely tries. It lack cohesiveness. This directorial effort is a game venture by John Turturro but one that, nonetheless, falters, given the number of wrong notes sounded throughout the film. Still, the film shows promise of things to come.