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Using this deceptively simple and seemingly familiar set-up writer/director Kevin Jordan has crafted a beautifully nuanced and vivid portrait of the struggles of the small businessman to keep his head above water – Frank’s tale as relevant now, in this era of corporate buy-outs and a withering middle class, as at any time in the last fifty years. But rather than a requiem for the small businessman Brooklyn Lobster is a celebration; an acknowledgment of not only the professional triumphs and/or failures but, rather, the working man’s ability to persevere regardless.

As Frank Giordano Danny Aiello (Moonstruck, Do The Right Thing) gives a relaxed, lived-in performance that anchors the film and sets a naturalistic tone that the other performers will follow. Not necessarily new ground for the actor (Frank could easily be Do The Right Thing’s Sal fifteen years after the riot), Aiello nevertheless breathes fresh air into what might have been a stock role, bringing a touching vulnerability to his performance. Daniel Sauli as the home-just-for-the-holidays Michael gives a bravura performance, refusing to take the easy route and play his character for laughs alone. Sauli’s Michael is neither the weak son who ran away from a father he could never live up, nor his pop’s brick, but a shaded combination of both. In another standout performance Marisa Ryan, as Lauren, Frank’s daughter, one woman office staff and accountant, fully conveys the weariness that comes with the obligations weighed upon the daughters of Italian-American’s of a certain generation and mindset, whilst also trying to be a wife and mother. She is truly her father’s brick. As Frank’s estranged wife Maureen, Saturday Night Live and sitcom alumna Jane Curtin turns in a surprisingly subtle performance that compliments Aiello’s Frank perfectly. The resignation in her eyes when she tells Frank that she’s been lonely for the entirety of their marriage is truly heartbreaking in its simple honesty.

Yet the true star of Brooklyn Lobster is writer and director Kevin Jordan. Basing the events of the film somewhat on his own family (his father runs Jordan’s Lobster Farm, which subbed for Giordano’s in the film) Jordan has written a screenplay that constantly surprises by avoiding easy sitcom humor and/or the almost expected turn toward crime. Like his mentor, Martin Scorsese in his neo-realist phase (Mean Streets. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), Jordan’s film feels spontaneous; we forget that we’re watching a movie and simply want things to work out for Frank and his family, because they could just as easily be our family. That Jordan is so adroitly able to do so is breathtaking in its accomplishment.

One of the best films in many a year, “Brooklyn Lobster” deserves the box office usually reserved for major studio rom-coms. Do yourself a favor and seek this film out when it opens November 4. You’ll thank me, and ten years from now you’ll be able to tell your friends and family how you saw the film that put Kevin Jordan on the map before anyone else.

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originally posted: 10/26/05 00:19:50
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