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BROOKLYN LOBSTER Send This Review to a Friend
Seen at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, “Brooklyn Lobster” is a passionate story of a family business and personal crisis. Writer-director Kevin Jordan has made a low-budget film that creates the ambience of a Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, waterfront lobster shop, and with Danny Aiello in the leading role as Frank Giorgio, the proprietor, the film has its larger-than-life dramatic center.
It’s the Christmas season and a bank loan is being called in, which threatens the existence of the business that has been in the Giorgio family for years, but Frank is not one to go quietly. He is strident, stubborn, has a nasty temper if provoked and is determined to keep the business going against the mounting odds.
Frank is heavy-handed with his own family, the type of a guy who means well but rides roughshod over others. His grown-up children (played by Daniel Sauli and Marisa Ryan) are embroiled in the situation, as is his fed-up wife, Maureen, portrayed by Jane Curtin. “Brooklyn Lobster” tries to pack too much drama and melodrama into what is really a modest film. The whole clash between Frank and his wife is a detour the film might have avoided, although it does illuminate the kind of bulldozing and potentially self-destructive personality Frank has, for all his good intentions. It’s the kind of role on which Aiello thrives.
The film’s strong point is its sincere attempt to zero in on a way of life and attendant economic problems reflecting the plight of the independent entrepreneur struggling to get along. Incidentally, if you see it, you may want to arrange a lobster dinner afterward. A Meadowbrook Pictures release.
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