No Way Home *** (1996, Tim Roth, Deborah Kara Unger, James Russo) – Classic Movie Review 3603

Tim Roth, then in 1996 carving out an American career of note, impresses as an ex-con who return to live with his lowlife older brother (James Russo) and wife (Deborah Kara Unger). Roth and Unger begin to forge a bond, as broke drug-dealer Russo gets in deeper and deeper with the mob, threatening the ex-con’s future.

No Way Home is a Forties-style Cain and Abel melodrama for the Nineties, with an able touch of James M Cain, plus a lot of bloodshed and nasty violence.

The three performances stay in the mind, long after you have forgotten the downbeat, depressing story. But writer-director Buddy Giovinazzo stirs up some new variants on the old passions – love, jealousy and betrayal – and writes some pointed, creditable dialogue in a film that lives on the edge without teetering over. A no way negligible low-budget, cult item.

Giovinazzo went on to make The Unscarred (2000), Life Is Hot in Cracktown (2009) and A Night of Nightmares (2012).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3603
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