FRESH KILLS

First time writer/director Jensnifer Esposito stars as Francine Larusso, a mother of 2 girls and a husband who's involved with the mob. The film opens with them moving to Staten Island from Brooklyn and follows the family between the years 1987-1998; however, the film is told primarily from the daughters POV: Connie (Odessa A'zion) and Rose (Emily Bader). The girls couldn't be more polar opposites of each other with Connie being the older, louder, more brash of the 2 while Rose is extremely quite and reserved, hardly uttering a word during a lot of her scenes. Domenick Lombardozzi plays the father Joe but he's barely in the film as again, the story revolves around the daughters and to an extent, Francine as well. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this. I wasn't 100% sure as a lot of mob movies nowadays have a more made-for-TV vibe to them but not this. While it didn't get a lot of marketing put behind it, it's still a solid film. I'm a sucker for the time period and a lot of the costumes, makeup, and hair are right on point. Emily Bader as Rose does a fantastic job with her performance, particularly at the end when we see the end of her character arc. A tale about family, expectations, and freedom. 6.5/10