Film and Felt

Despite glimpses of promise, Larry Golin’s Cross Bronx is an unconvincing coming-of-age picture that never separates itself from most genre clichés. Its biggest problem is the overly ambitious script—aside from the dialogue (a few gems and funny moments, but fairly stale), Golin’s decision to focus on four youths proves to be the film’s downfall. At just 84 minutes, there’s simply not enough time to explore four lives in any kind of depth. As such, only one of the storylines feels full—that of Jimmy Schiek, a strapping, handsome black youth with a penchant for womanizing who dreams of playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones (the Mets rookie-ball affiliate), and eventually ending up on the mound at Shea Stadium. Informed after final cuts that he’d fallen just short, Schiek finds it impossible to overcome his despair, spirits away his Cyclones jersey, and informs family & friends that he’s to report to St. Lucie…he’s made the team. That we’re taken along for the same ride as his compatriots serves Golin well; the reality of Schiek’s broken dreams and inability to face his now-uncertain future resonate with any of us who’ve been fired or turned away from potential work…or even suffered as small an indignity as being picked last for the schoolyard softball game.

Unfortunately, Schiek (Nawshan Kearse, who has a Mekhi Pfeifer-esque screen presence and look; he could have a future in the industry) is the only part of Cross Bronx that’s better than average. Set in present-day New York, Golin’s debut film tells of four (very different) friends who move in together in the Bronx near the end of their senior year in high school. Ike, the wrestler, doesn’t drink or eat fatty foods, trains relentlessly (and throws a fit when he doesn’t make weight for his tournaments), is rather good-looking…yet finds himself shy and unable to be aggressive with girls. Rob is the arty, quirky kid who’s always on the edge of losing it…until the right woman arrives to break him in. And Vivo, a fat jokester who drops out of high school to join his father’s shady, striving to prove he can avoid cracking under the strain.

If these characters sound familiar, they should; they’ve existed in countless coming-of-age stories over the years. That can be overcome, though, by poignant direction and thoughtful touches; Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas (2003) didn’t break new ground, but presented its relationships & characters with a nurturing touch, tenderly leading us through Victor’s maturation. Key difference; Sollett didn’t take on more than he could handle. By trying to develop four mirroring stories, Golin resorts to tried-and-true rubbish far too often. There’s the token scene where the friends fight, then learn from it & make up. And there’s the ‘transcendent’ moment where Ike decides to buck up, be a man, and confront the father of the girl he’s courting (the pappy just happens to be insanely overprotective, but of course is more than willing to soften his stance; “I just want to know…how you feel about my daughter. Ugh.). Oh, and let’s not forget the lying-about-our-age-to-impress-folks angle, or the absurd manner in which Vivo comes to realize that maybe—just maybe—being a mobster isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. With so little time to sell us on all four kids, Golin force-feeds the audience scenarios that are skimpy on the originality, but plenty heavy on the cheese. Only Schiek’s departure invokes genuine emotion, seeing him hop on the Miami-bound bus, resolved to the end to go the whole nine yards with his lie…and even there, Golin feels obliged to insert the pouring rain as the backdrop, as if that’s never been done before…

Though it certainly doesn’t sound it from my previous paragraph, I actually enjoyed Cross Bronx more than I had any right to. I’m a softie for flicks that focus on my hometown (or its surroundings), and Golin effectively portrays the communal and neighborhood discrepancies between Westchester and the Bronx. It’s clear he has a strong understanding for New York’s intricacies, the differences between the rundown areas and the suburbs. None of this excuses Golin’s mawkish direction of the characters & subplots, or the thoroughly mediocre use of hand-held camera, but at least it allowed me to find Cross Bronx moderately engaging. For the rest of you cats, though, I can’t promise the same.

© Gabe Leibowitz 2004