| TWO BITS |
 1995 - USADirector: James Foley
- Reviewed by Jennifer
Young Gennaro Spirito (Jerry Barone) just wants twenty five cents so he can go to a movie at the La Paloma. It's the Depression and his grandfather is dying in the backyard, so it's not really appropriate, but it's something we can all relate to, especially as movie lovers. I have always been one to put a movie on like a band-aid at the end of a bad day, and Gennaro just wants a moment of escape, something to look forward to... He wants to feel normal, and movies have a strange power to fill this need. Throughout the morning, Gennaro's grandfather (Al Pacino) cheerfully refers to the quarter he will leave him when dies later that day, but Gennaro doesn't want to count on it. It's unfortunate that he doesn't recognize the one-man-show sitting in his yard, just waiting to die where God can see him, but such is the case the people closest to us. We often don't realize what they mean to us until it's too late. Gennaro spends the day just trying to earn two bits. In the process he sees some seriously damaging things, stemming in part from desperation caused by the Depression. He is propositioned by the doctor's wife, and later finds her hanging in her basement after she commits suicide. To round out the day, his grandfather sends him on a mission to apologize on to a woman he wronged years before. All of these people are defined by broken dreams and squelched desires. The story is well-written and there are various levels of meaning, so that Two Bits is somewhat more interesting to think about than it was to watch. The exception of course is Al Pacino's limited screen time and Alec Baldwin's lovely, uncredited narration. Pacino actually seems a bit young for the part, and winds up playing the father of his Scarface sister, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. That aside, he gives a riveting performance, and I found myself fully believing he couldn't move from his chair. Out of nowhere, he delivers this little doozie (as only he could) to explain the sort of day his grandson has had: "He's one of the kids who saw that woman hangin' there. He found her. He's so scared, he don't even know how scared he is. Someday he's gonna see a lamb hangin' in the butcher's window. He's gonna throw up. Everybody around is gonna say, 'What the hell's the matter with that guy? He's throwin' up.'"It sums up the situation so well, but his inflection is somehow hilarious and caused me to laugh harder than I would like to admit. He brings welcome comic relief to a rather serious and pensive film. Gennaro tries to tell himself and his family that he doesn't really care about the movie or the two bits, but his mother and grandfather won't let him get away with it. They both emphasize the importance of dreaming and wanting, and the tragedy of having your hopes taken away. Though it seems impossible, Gennaro does make it to the movie. Without it, the La Paloma day would have been about death, pain, and perversion. Instead, Genarro remembers it as the day he learned never to give up on his dreams, never to stop wanting. With this in mind, it's no wonder his grandfather thinks heaven must look like the theater. |
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