Jennifer Esposito’s directorial debut, Fresh Kills follows the wives, daughters and sisters of the men who run an organized crime family. A Brooklyn native, Esposito gives us a different kind of Mafia film, one that shifts focus from violent deeds to a more domestic scene that’s just as rife with conflict.
Connie (Odessa A’zion) and Rose (Emily Bader) are sisters living in Staten Island in 1987, having relocated to that outer borough because of their father’s work, the nature of which their family doesn’t acknowledge. The siblings grow up under the unspoken knowledge of their family’s mob ties. While Connie accepts her subservient role, adopting a “family comes first” mantra that echoes throughout their adolescence, Rose chafes at the constraints put upon her by tradition and chauvinism. The girls come of age in their new neighborhood, constantly aware of the benefits associated with their father’s reputation. Connie revels in this treatment and vocalizes her disdain for anyone who so much as disrespects the Larusso name, while Rose questions her father’s morality and begins to wonder if there is any hope for her to remove herself from his way of life without becoming estranged from her family. As the girls emerge into adulthood, it becomes increasingly more dangerous for Rose to attempt to live a life outside domestic servitude, beyond the limits of the family and “the family.”
Writer and director Esposito portrays Connie and Rose’s mother, Francine, the wife of the shady “legitimate businessman” Joe Larusso (Domenick Lombardozzi). She attempts to show her daughters the joys of motherhood, though is unable to hide the sacrifices she’s made to further her husband’s unethical success. She lives a life of quiet suffering – mourning the person she was before her marriage while performing the role of an oblivious housewife. Esposito, who’s acted in numerous mob dramas and cop shows, dissects the mob wife archetype with skill and precision — and a genuine interest in getting beyond the often-ridiculed caricature of women bound to their nefarious husbands. Fresh Kills is less a film about organized crime as it is a piece about female solidarity set within an Italian household that happens to be involved with the Mafia. Francine encourages her daughters to follow in the Larusso tradition of being confined to motherhood and reveals to Rose that she may be disowned if she decides to escape to the city to start an honest life for herself.
Connie and Rose are both vivid characters, but they also represent their mother’s internal battle with herself. Connie fully accepts the expectations of her clan — to marry a made man, become a mother and defend her family name even if it makes her an accomplice to illegal activities. Yet she grows enraged at her father’s favoritism of their cousin Allie (Nicholas Cirillo), who, because he’s a male, is allowed and expected to work in the family business. Unable to face her father, she redirects her anger at Allie in various acts of petty violence. Rose’s breaking point, meanwhile, comes when she finds her young niece hiding in Allie’s office, in which she discovers the true nature of her father’s violent, drug-ridden dealings. Rose finally openly defies her father during the film’s resolution, with Bader delivering a particularly powerful performance. It’s the film’s sole moment in which a woman truly, brazenly stands up for herself, and Bader makes it count. This climactic scene serves as the apex and outlet of the rage that builds in the female characters as the missed opportunities pile up during the rest of the movie.
Rose may seem like the black sheep in Fresh Kills, but each of the Larusso women chafe against the men who exploit them, at least on a subconscious level. Through Francine’s quiet self-expression and Connie’s violent streak toward lesser male relatives, each finds ways to distinguish themselves as more than docile accomplices. Esposito’s examination of the hidden humanity behind loving mob wife and clueless mob child does not patronize, but instead invites us to understand the strong, neglected women behind the men who take up most of the oxygen in the crime drama canon.
Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution
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