Gravesend (1995) User Reviews

In your face, raw tale of wasted youth.

[rob-236 · 5/10 · 15 November 2005]

Review of "Gravesend"

Quite gripping tale of 4 young men from the ghetto without a chance in life who find themselves in an uncontrollable situation after a careless prank goes totally wrong. From this moment on they are doomed, yet they desperately try and retrieve the situation the only way they know how - the criminal way, and this is when things spiral out of all proportion.

The raw talents and amateurism of this filmmaker really suit the mood of the whole film and its well worth checking out if you like similar themed movies.

High class amateur

[thelefty · 18 July 2001]

Being a 16 year old "kid" and an aspiring filmmaker, I felt the need to add a comment about this movie. Despite most people who would say this movie is a waste of time, poorly acted, directed, filmed and it either dragging on, being too slow etc. I've always been able to appreciate the work behind making a movie, no matter how bad it is. That is why I rate Salvatore Stabile highly on his first film. The fact that he was 19-23 (not sure which exactly) years old and the supposed budget of $5000 (Although I highly doubt it) is really inspiring. Shot in doco-style camera work with 16mm film it really has a grittyness to it which really adds character to a movie like this. It's so un-hollywood, maybe I just have thing for amateur, low budget films but a film like this is truly something to proud of for Salvatore Stabile. I can understand that it may not be everybody's cup of tea but it is a great film, and deserves to be appreciated. God on you Sal, keep up the good work.

Some guys in a whole lot of trouble

[Phyllygg · 9/10 · 22 January 2007]

4 guys, in a rather boring routine of fighting and smoking pot all of a sudden find themselves in an every man for himself type deal. When Zane accidentally shoots the the brother of Ray, they try to figure out what to do next....... tell the police or hide the body. I think you know which one they choose. The rest of the movie is, whats next? The characters do exactly what allot of people would do in their situation. They are arguing, beating each other up cruising around in mickey's car in a total panic. The movie itself is a psychological trip. There are times in the movie where you almost can't stand it anymore it's all hard to swallow. I loved it.

True Gravesend

[tootoned · 10/10 · 9 March 2006]

Hey all I was just reading some of everyones comments about Gravesend. I have to say that the movie is a good depiction of the neighborhood. I guess to enjoy the movie you have to be from Gravesend like I am. I don't want to give any details away about the movie. I have to add that Gravesend is far from a broke down area of Brooklyn as someone has posted. You really have to listen to the words in the movie to understand this area. Gravsend is good for wacky things happening in the first place. I give Sal Stabile a lot credit for trying to piece together Gravesend in 90 minutes it is not an easy task. Sal if you read this we will go for some Spumoni one day ha ha ha. Much love to the area of Gravesend.

Simply a great movie at any budget

[pcalkins · 8/10 · 25 October 2000]

I can't believe the low rating this movie has received so far. It's a great description of life in an east coast city. The events evolve like a great tragedy... It's like a mix between Shakespeare and Cassavetes. The acting is top notch... no need to qualify it with "for unknowns"... The shot of the freeway bridge at the end reminds me a little of the end of "Over the Edge", another great modern tragedy. This is definitely not a suburban film, though, which may be why some people can't seem to connect.

gritty NY film good but not perfect

[bcphilli · 20 October 2003]

Gravesend takes place in a beaten down Brooklyn neighborhood near Coney Island. Immediately, it is clear that the young writer/director of this film takes all his energy and inspiration for his characters out of the streets for this film, and does so convincingly. Much of this films' buzz centered around the fact that the director was young and made the film at a very low-budget, adding to this films rough urban flavor. Many critics deplored the film because of its' repeatative non-stop pointless fights among the friends, however I believe they were an essential part of the film. We learn to dislike most of the characters, often glad that their lives aren't ours, and at times the dialog can be suprisingly humorous given the cynical nature of this film. Tony Tucci alone is reason enough to see this movie, playing a violent, rough, worthless twenty-something who is neither a good friend, good person, and more or less continually fails at what he does throughout the coarse of the night. With a better written plot and storyline, this film could have done what Mean Streets did for Martin Scorecese for this young director, but unfortunately falls short. However, to anyone interested in film and film making, highly recommended.

Down These Mean Streets A Man Must Go...

[gavynmurray · 9/10 · 26 July 2007]

A poor rating for a cutting edge, innovative, creative crime drama, brilliantly painting a portrait of the nature of friendship and community? Isn't this the IMDb? Aren't we supposed to like, nay LOVE, movies? This film is Mean Streets for the Tarantino generation, with more balls than a dozen Hollywood movies. Stabile deserves to be up there with those other indie directors of the 90's. but maybe he has probably held fast to his beliefs and was not prepared to fall in the sewer of self-indulgent, bloated garbage that has passed for the 90's indie crowd's subsequent output. This movie should be seen by all aspiring directors of what can be done on a shoestring budget if you possess intelligence.

not bad at all

[AL-161 · 26 April 1999]

I love films like this. Pacy, lean and funny. It will no doubt draw fire for being a bit Scorcese-esque, and admittedly, the character Zane owes a lot to De Niro in Mean Streets, but in fact the film actually resembles L'Haine a lot more. The difficult customer scene is very funny, and the whole thing was neatly finished. Great stuff.

Pure, Junvenile Crap.

[jason-79 · 16 December 1998]

While it is indeed commendable that this guy made a movie at the age of 19 for 5000 (or whatever the myth for this one is), is does not excuse the fact that this movie is a terrible, boring, poorly conceived piece of garbage. The acting is uniformly terrible, the dialogue inane. Avoid this movie at all costs. One of the worst films I've ever seen.

Should be called "Please End"

[Moviemkr · 7 December 1998]

Oh the Agony! The suffering I went through to watch this.. First off, way too much stupidity. I mean if I killed someone, I doubt I'm going waste time arguing and then spend all night driving around town with the dead body in my trunk. Jeez.. what were these people thinking. I think throughout the film we are supposed to care for these characters.. but the only thing I cared about was seeing the credits rolling.. and it seemed like forever before they finally did. I realize the filmmaker was only 19.. but jeez can't he come up with anything better than colorful four-letter adjectives. Also, some advice for his next film - invest in a tripod.

This is a great movie

[casanovamovie · 10 October 2001]

This is good work. I heard that Salvatore Stabile didn't have a lot of money to put the project together. Also, I heard that the actors worked for free. That is true dedication to a project. I salute the cast for working with the director. A friend of mine gave me a copy of the soundtrack. This is what it all boils down to. There are no expensive special effects or high price actors. This is what America needs, A good cast that asks what they can do for the movie, instead of what a movie can do for them.