Gomorrah

I had every intention to write about the Oscars tonight-- soup to nuts. Hell, maybe even a real-time diary kinda thing. Then I tuned in to ABC's "Red Carpet" coverage at 6:00 (!), which was so awful that I abandoned all ideas Oscar. It seemed like keeping all mic's operational, showing the people they're talking about, and generating even a microblip of energy was way too much for good old channel 7 to handle tonight. I even gave 'em one more chance at 7:00, but they went with Barbara Walters and the Jonas Brothers. Jeez.

I'd much rather take this time to plug a non-Oscar, non-Hollywood film (my, how snooty of me!). Gomorrah (Gomorra) is an extraordinary film about warring gangsters in modern-day Naples. Extraordinary for its lack of glamour, depth of characters, and brilliant performances (especially Salvatore Cantalupo). You'll surely hear the stories about death threats on the writer's life, cast members dead or locked up... don't listen. Just watch the film. More Mean Streets than anything else familiar, save City of God.