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Reviews
Brutal (2012)
BRUTAL is a Great Indie Gangster Film
The writing, dialogue, and acting in "Brutal" were all very good. It's very realistic. Kamal Ahmed has a real talent and a feel for what we might call this particular "element" of the Italian-American (sub)culture, and especially the East coast (NY/NJ) variety. The film does not seem "low-budget". Besides that there is humor involved as well, similar to in a lot of Sopranos episodes for example when you would find yourself laughing even though the genre itself is of course not comedic. Plenty of action and even some blood and guts (well how else could it bear the name "Brutal" without any?).
Particularly noteworthy to me were the performances by David Dastmalchian, Arthur Nascarella (played Carlo on The Sopranos), and Mark Love, but there are certainly good points to be found in all the different performances. As an Italian-American myself I could relate to a lot of it, and particularly enjoyed Antonio/Anthony's mom for example, for a little comedy relief. Peter Greene (of Pulp Fiction) is duly menacing as a street-level Mob associate more or less directly connected to the heart of the plot.
If you're a fan of gritty gangster type films in general, give Brutal a try at your local video store, or pick up a copy to keep; you won't regret it.