Dark Streets: Review By Rama's SCREEN

Not too sure how to say what I feel about this movie because I do enjoy watching Bijou Phillips do her thing, there’s something about her that’s spellbinding but DARK STREETS is anything but. Just like the title itself, you will feel dark throughout the entire story. It’s a mix of… noir and soothing blues that tries too hard to pay homage to classics of the past. Dont’ get me wrong, I have no problem with this genre but I’d appreciate this movie more if it was a bunch of paintings in an art gallery show instead of a feature film format.

It’s a whodunit movie.. a little bit of mystery, a little of bit seduction and a little bit of pride comes before fall and obsession. However, I can’t help but get the feeling that it’s a giant pile of mess. It’s predictable halfway through the movie. You can easily put the pieces and figure out how the end’s going to turn out. If you don’t like a movie that plays with shadows, smokes, and bright light a lot, you probably won’t enjoy DARK STREETS because it embraces those elements like no other. The choreography is decent, every musical number performed by the artists involved will arouse and hypnotize your curiosity. The song selections have that oddly haunting and soothing effect at the same time. But Toledo who’s supposed to be the narrator tells the story in the weirdest, most confusing manner, that Louis Armstrong wannabee voice doesn’t help either. The lead character, played by Gabriel Mann is unimpressive. He might even lose some of the audience’s interest by attempting to pull a Clark Gable mustache.

It’s a directorial debut by Rachel Samuels so I blame the inexperience. It’s based on a play by Glenn Stewart but I think something got lost in the adaptation by Wallace King. The dialogue longs to be profound and mystical in connection to the character Chaz who loses control of himself with every drink that he takes, the bad guy proves that he can conquer the father and the son as well, but in the end, any chance of you liking this movie is left by the side of a dark street with a bullet in the head and blood spilling out.