LITTLE ODESSA (1994) *1/2 Vanessa Redgrave dies without getting any good lines, a kid gets knocked off his bicycle, dead bodies are burned at the dump. It's not that there isn't any talent apparent anywhere, it's just that there's nothing to be attracted to that doesn't smell. Tim Roth is the kid from Brooklyn with leadership skills who returns as a hitman for the Russian mob. There's never a question of detecting his motivations but it becomes a lot less mysterious once you get a good look at his wildly contradictory father (Maximilian Schell). The writers demand numerous leaps of faith (hitmen telling relatives of victims who's going to get hit next and then leaving, undercover guys attending parties, etc.) in order to submerse ourselves in the grime of filthy streets, and the lives of people in a bad situation and only doing things to make it worse.
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