Fresh Kills Review

Fresh Kills (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Jennifer Esposito, written by Jennifer Esposito, and starring Annabella Sciorra, Jennifer Esposito, Emily Bader, Callie Thorne, Domenick Lombardozzi, Odessa A’zion, Nicholas Cirillo, and David Iacono.

I would be lying if I said that my ears didn’t perk up a little bit when I heard that Jennifer Esposito had written, directed, and starred in a new coming-of-age gangster movie. It was a name I hadn’t heard in years. I was a big fan of her work back in the late 90s and early 00s, and it’s not solely because she was in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer AND Dracula 2000. There had always been an authenticity and understanding in her performances that endeared me, and it’s something that flourishes in every single aspect of her staggering debut, Fresh Kills.

There is a sincerity to this movie that the studio executives in Burbank could never create. You get the feeling that these are streets that Esposito, growing up on Staten Island herself, might have walked down on cold December nights. There’s something special about filmmakers making films in their hometowns. An unspoken glow that has a way of connecting with viewers on a more emotional level. It grounds Fresh Kills in a way that grips you, and every actor does a brilliant job bringing the material to life.

The movie begins with a small prologue before jumping into the childhood of our lead Rose (Emily Bader) and her sister Connie (Odessa A’zion). It’s a bit of a good sister, bad sister situation, but they’re close, especially in the way they grow up in a household of a mafia member. Their father’s violent world is kept just out of reach for everyone, including the audience, to see, and their mother, Francine (a dynamite Jennifer Esposito), does what she can to protect the girls, but it’s a life in which tragedy is unavoidable. In one fashion or another.

Don’t get it twisted; this is a coming-of-age story in the very best sense of the genre, in that it makes you feel every step of the way our lead character learns, fails, and grows. But, with couches full of loose cash, the stakes are much higher in Fresh Kills as opposed to something like Lady Bird or Perks of Being a Wallflower.

It’s a testament to casting and Esposito’s directing in that none of the characters come off as New York caricatures. Even down to the mobbed-up father (Domenick Lombardozzi), who keeps all his anger and ferocity perfectly compartmentalized. Away from his home and family. So often these roles are overperformed and downright insulting, not here. We’re given just enough to submerge within the world of the characters without growing tired of it. It’s even more impressive with a runtime of nearly two hours. It doesn’t suffer from flashy camera tricks; Esposito is smooth and efficient in her direction (with some beautiful tracking shots).

So often, these gangster-style films are overwrought with machismo energy. No question, it’s a genre that’s been dominated by men, not only in substance but in story. A male lens and masculine focus, Fresh Kills is a fresh take that is powered through a female voice. It’s a complete subversion of the films it stands alongside because it stops to shine a light on something the genre has notoriously sidelined. It’s women. Emily Bader and Odessa A’zion are terrific as sisters, but Jennifer Esposito steals the show in her own movie. As the matriarch of the family, Francine is plagued with guilt and driven by loyalty, all stuffed inside the heart-loving mother. It’s all the more impressive that she helmed the project from script to screen.

It’s rare to see such a singular and polished vision from a filmmaker with their debut feature. It requires equal measure originality and fearlessness, and Fresh Kills delivers both in spades.

Rating: 8.5/10

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