Donnie Brasco (1997)
Directed by Mike Newell
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.
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What critics say influenced Donnie Brasco
The themes of the film remind of "Goodfellas" or "Reservoir Dogs", but the film remains original.
But any movie featuring Italian American dons, wise guys and a bevy of such expressions as "forget about it" (pronounced "fuhgedabowdid") will be compared, inevitably, to the superior gangster pictures of Francis Ford Coppola (the "Godfather" movies) and Martin Scorsese ("GoodFellas").
And they're not making the movie to get jacked up on the garish show-biz style of their hoods, the way Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Pileggi were in "Goodfellas" and "Casino."
Donnie Brasco may not have the epic qualities of Coppola's Godfather series, nor the dynamic construction of Scorcese's Goodfellas , but this under-rated Mafia film ranks at the top when it comes to emotional intensity, character development, and revealing the inside nature of the Mob.
Comparison with GoodFellas is inevitable, though these wiseguys are no high-rollers, and the tone is much more measured; low-key, even.
The story plays like a companion to "GoodFellas", with the same lore, the same fierce Mafia code, the same alternation between sudden violence and weird comedy.
The irony should not be lost on the fact that David Fincher's Mank, a dramatized feature about the writing of one of Orson Welles's greatest films, Citizen Kane (1941), is being released by the streaming giant Netflix.
Watching the wise guys milling around outside the family hangout, hoping to catch a word of approval from the big shots, may remind you of the dock workers in "On the Waterfront" angling to get a day's pay from the foreman.
Director Mike Newell has likened this story to Death of a Salesman and its an apt comparison.
He regroups quickly, though, and propelled by extraordinary performances by Al Pacino and Johnny Depp and a fine supporting cast creates a brooding, funny, horrific frieze of thwarted loyalty, love, and ambition -- a gangster version of Death of a Salesman.
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At first glance, Newell, best known for the froth of Enchanted April or Four Weddings and a Funeral, seems an odd match for this material.
Mike Newell, the director of such popular British comedies as Enchanted April and Four Weddings and a Funeral, is another matter altogether.
While Donnie Brasco is constantly absorbing, it's damaged by a few continuity problems, which may have occurred because it was directed by an unlikely choice, the British Mike Newell (Enchanted April, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mona Lisa Smile).
Donnie Brasco was an unlikely feature for director Mike Newell to produce, coming after such successes as Enchanted April and Four Weddings and a Funeral, but, against all odds, it�s one of the most moving and insightful gangster films ever made.
Newell has dealt with love before: love gone bad in "Dance With a Stranger," love reawakened in "Enchanted April," love gone adorable and stammering in "Four Weddings and a Funeral."
Newell, who previously directed the romantic farces "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Enchanted April," plays down the action and focuses on the bond between the main characters.
Newell has dealt with love before: love gone bad in "Dance With a Stranger," love reawakened in "Enchanted April," love gone adorable and stammering in "Four Weddings and a Funeral."
But he has done darker films before (Dance With a Stranger, The Good Father) and brings to the piece a certain kitchen-sink realism, moving the genre out of the executive office and onto the factory floor.
But he's also the director of the noirish Dance with a Stranger and the bleakly lyrical Into the West, and he brings to Brasco a puckish melancholy, an acrid humor, and a blithe resignation.
However, in spite of the improvement, it still just misses ranking in the upper echelon on mob movies such as GoodFellas, Casino, The Godfather films, State of Grace and Once Upon a Time in America.
At first glance, Newell, best known for the froth of Enchanted April or Four Weddings and a Funeral, seems an odd match for this material.
Best known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, British director Mike Newell has put together a fine Mafia film that gets overlooked too often in the wake of the Scorcese and Coppola films.
"Donnie Brasco" was directed by Mike Newell, whose "Four Weddings and a Funeral" wouldn't make you think that he'd be able to make such a hard-edged gangster drama.
Like its title character, a man who became a criminal in order to nab the bad guys, the latest from director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") wants it both ways.
The British director Mike Newell , whose biggest hit was "Four Weddings And A Funeral" might seem like a strange choice for this material, but he's the right one, because the movie is not really about violence or action, it's about friendship.
While Donnie Brasco is constantly absorbing, it's damaged by a few continuity problems, which may have occurred because it was directed by an unlikely choice, the British Mike Newell (Enchanted April, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mona Lisa Smile).
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And they're not making the movie to get jacked up on the garish show-biz style of their hoods, the way Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Pileggi were in "Goodfellas" and "Casino."
Newell yields to a few cheap techniques brought with him from his lighter fare -- a musical montage condenses Donnie's mob initiation into a few shots of money and violence cut with a close-ups of a typewriter documenting his evidence -- but it is because of his direction that "Donnie Brasco" isn't just a cookie-cutter mob flick like "Casino" turned out to be.
However, in spite of the improvement, it still just misses ranking in the upper echelon on mob movies such as GoodFellas, Casino, The Godfather films, State of Grace and Once Upon a Time in America.
However, in spite of the improvement, it still just misses ranking in the upper echelon on mob movies such as GoodFellas, Casino, The Godfather films, State of Grace and Once Upon a Time in America.