September 25–October 2, 1997

movie shorts

Gravesend

He may have a two-picture deal with Dreamworks and his own New Yorker profile, but what Sal Stabile doesn't have is a remotely interesting debut film. A blatant Laws of Gravity retread, from the first frame to its sudden blackout ending, Gravesend follows the exploits of four desperately stupid Brooklyn teens as they try to dispose of a corpse. There are a few memorable images, like a fight that turns into a swarming mass of bodies, but the sheer machismo of the filmmaking wears you down. It's not hard to see why Oliver Stone, who "presents" the movie, is fond of Stabile; like Stone, Stabile's style is to make an obvious point, then give the audience a few good whacks with it just to make sure they're paying attention. For a film (and a filmmaker) which so incessantly proclaims itself a product of the streets, there's a depressingly generic quality to Gravesend. It's like a studio executive's idea of what poor white kids do in their off-hours. Apart from the role of a "fixer" named JoJo the Junkie (Macky Aquilino) who says he can make a body disappear for "$500 and a thumb," the acting is energetic but one-note, and with the characters breaking into a shoving match every three minutes, even that note isn't struck too often.

—Sam Adams