Blast Of Silence 8/10
This is a simple story about Frankie Bono, a hitman from Cleveland, who comes to New York to off a mid-level mob guy around Christmas. The film was written and directed by Allen Baron, who also stars as Bruno and it's clearly a film that was made on the cheap. The camerawork is simple and straightforward. The film opens with a jarring, second-person narrative that I never really warmed to. There were a few great lines that temporarily won me over - the mob guy is described as "Second-string syndicate boss with too much ambition and a mustache to hide the fact that he’s got lips like a woman. The kind of face you hate.", but overall it just didn't work. There were a few moments that stood out as being atypical of the genre, most notable a Christmas party where Frankie finds himself in a "pushing a peanut across the floor with your nose" race, and they were a nice change of pace. The performances are all over the place. Baron does a fine job as Bono, occasionally reminding me of DeNiro in brief flashes. There's a romance that doesn't go anywhere and a detour along the way to the hit, but the events pretty much unfold as expected, even the ending, which may have been a bit surprising at the time (maybe?). A good film, but I was hoping for a little more (it's not even 80 min.).