Prince of Broadway: Review By harveycritic

PRINCE OF BROADWAY

Elephant Eye Films

Reviewed for MovieWeb by Harvey Karten

Grade: B

Directed By: Sean Baker

Written By: Sean Baker, Darren Dean

Cast: Prince Adu, Karren Karaguilian, Keyali Mayaga, Kat Sanchez, Aiden Noesi

Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 7/7/10

Opens: September 3, 2010 in New York

A sign on the wall of a shop belonging to Levon (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian-Lebanese fellow with a Green Card, advises customers whom to call in the event of a potential terrorist threat. The real terrorism evoked in Sean Baker's "Prince of Broadway," emerges from some of its characters, who do harmful things to one another without evidence of remorse. While the sign suggests calling the cops in the event of harm, this option is not open to the principal character, a Ghanian who is in this country illegally and therefore a man who has to take a lot of guff from others simply to survive.

"Prince of Broadway" is an indie in every sense of the word-shot as though on a fly by the director with cinema verité resonance. Baker does not capture the tourists' New York of Broadway shows, Macy's, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty but of neighborhoods that are never seen by our distinguished guests who spend their cash, trying to bail New York City out of deficit doldrums. This is the New York of West 28th Street, part of the Flatiron district that features stores selling counterfeit bags and other goods to people who should know that you can't get a Prada handbag for $32. Washington Heights is also given some celluloid, yet another area that tourists may pass on the way to the Cloisters but otherwise is the home primarily of Hispanics living in pre-war apartment residences.

Though two people are credited with the screenplay, much of the dialogue by these most non-professional actors is improvised, all to the benefit of projecting a story that relies on such authenticity and which wears its low-budget individuality on its sleeve. The men and women in the cast may not be shown in commercials at the Mayor's Tourism and Convention Center, but they are part of what makes New York the world's most diverse and exciting metropolis.

Prince Adu anchors the tale as Lucky, an illegal immigrant from Ghana who sells knock-off bags in the Flatiron district, often steering customers into a "wholesale only" store run by Levon (Karren Karaguilian), a Lebanese resident who got his Green Card for marrying a much younger woman, Nadia (Victoria Tate). When one of Lucky's women thrusts Prince (Aiden Noesi) into his arms demanding that he take care of his baby for two weeks, Lucky, who does not believe he is the lad's dad, finds himself in the same position as Diane Keaton's character, J.C. Wiatt, in Charles Shyer's 1987 movie, "Baby Boom." Since going to the police is out of the question, he is stuck, hoping somehow that his girlfriend, Karina (Keyali Mayaga), can help him out. Of course none of his associates are willing or able to extricate him from his paternal dilemma.

Aiden Noesi, the title figure who looks no more than eighteen months old, appears to know that he's in the camera's lens. While the improv does not include much vocabulary, he know how to paint his poop on the wall of his putative dad's one-room flat, how to stay put when Lucky has to run around the corner to accuse someone of stealing sneakers from his stand, how to serve to frame a scene in a restaurant while he sits alone for a few moments waiting for the check.

This is the sort of film that demands an audience willing to consider its knockabout look as a plus and can be appreciated by folks who have not been to the Big Apple-those who do not realize that Our Town offers more life than can be found on Broadway.

Unrated. 102 minutes. © 2010 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online