PALOOKAVILLE United States

Alan Taylor’s debut feature is a refreshing
change from the neo-noir violence that currently
enshrouds American independent
filmmaking. Palookaville, starring William
Forsythe, Vincent Gallo and Adam Trese as
three Jerseyites driven by unemployment to
stick up an armed car, reinvents the blend
of neorealism and soulful clowning that
made Big Deal on Madonna Street a hit in
the Fifties. The opening sets the tone:
Planning to knock over a jewelry store, the
trio breaks through the wall of a bakery
instead, and almost gets caught when they
can’t resist sampling the goods. Fans of
ltalo Calvino, to whom the film is dedicated
will recognize this and other situations
fro’m Calvino’s postwar short stories, which
supply the moments of magic in the characters’
fershluginer lives. -Bill Krohn, Les
Cahiers du Cinema. Palookaville is Bill
Krohn’s Critic’s Choice