Fingers

James Tovack's FINGERS is one helluva directing debut. In some aspects, it's reminiscent of  TAXI DRIVER . Both Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) in the former and Jimmy Fingers are troubled individuals. Travis is isolated, but Jimmy's the opposite, quite outgoing, if quirky. He travels the NYC streets with a Panasonic radio/cassette deck and enjoys playing oldies like the Chiffons' "One Fine Day." Jimmy also has what's called today a sex addiction, he's constantly on the hunt and trying to score, but there's one gal Jimmy truly loves. That affection goes unrequited.Carol (Tisa Farrow), Jimmy's obssession, is a call girl whose pimp is a musclebound ex-boxer named Dreems (Jim Brown). That Jimmy can't get Carol to be exclusively his is causing him pain, and there's a scene where Dreems invites him to a private two-couple party with Carol and another hooker. It's an opportunity squandered, as Jimmy is unable to perform with Dreems and the other woman present. Totally embarrassing, and there's two other things that are really screwing up his life.Jimmy tries to lead a double existence. He's half-Italian Catholic, half-Jewish. His mom was a concert pianist, and Jimmy aspires to do the same. His playing style is eccentric, for he mouths every note, yet that showy quality is not necessarily a bad thing for a classical musician. The biggest obstacle is Jimmy can only play flawlessly when he's alone. Not good for someone wanting to perform in concert.Then there's Ben, his father (Michael V. Gazzo), a small-time mobster who no longer has any "collectors" except for Jimmy. Ben often browbeats him to get Jimmy to hammer some deadbeat for repayment. Although reluctant to do so, Jimmy's good at strongarming, for he's got a violent temper.Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi in  THE GODFATHER ) is here a pizzeria owner who's stiffed Ben for 4K. An encounter at his place of business shows just how shortfused Jimmy is.Be advised there's a few sequences of slam-bam sex, arguably necessary to the story, the rauchiest occurring in a ladies locker room with Jimmy and the smokin' hot bikini-clad girlfriend of a guy who owes Ben 22K.The similarity to TAXI DRIVER is that rejection of someone dear to them contributes to these men snapping. Some goriness results, but in Jimmy's case, the main trigger is something more important to him than a girlfriend. Where they really differ is, at the end these two characters are in very different places mentally.

Screen psychological drama never realized Mia Fartow had a sister named Tisa.Jim Brown extremely sexual. Good NYC locations!

Like another reviewer, it took a second viewing of this movie---in the latter instance, listening to the director's commentary---to really put the hook into me.I was floored the second time around (and nearly tossed the DVD into the trash after the first fifteen minutes of the first viewing).This movie is way, way ahead of its time, on so many levels. It's really not a movie about a specific time or location, or really, event a particular plot. It's about the increasing lack of commitment or intimacy in our society, and how, in our emotional immaturity, we seek doomed avenues.(*spoiler alert*)What helps the viewer understand the basic theme of the movie is the fact that, eventually, we realize that the main character, Jimmy, is not in fact a pianist; or rather, he is not a good one, and lives with dellusional aspirations because, well, we all expect it of ourselves (by the director's own admission, he would have made it obvious from the beginning that Jimmy is not actually playing the piano as the stereo tapes appear to be recording his practices; Jimmy is merely pretending to play the piano to pre-recorded music). But his dellusions of a musical career are so deep-seeded such that he pretends to flub an audition, rather than admit to himself that he was never even remotely good enough to have auditioned in the first place.How many people have we all known like that? Ninety percent of young people in college live exactly those kinds of lies, because our alpha-male society demands it of them.

I caught the end of this on TCM and it looked like something I'd like so I ordered a copy of the DVD on Amazon. I was pretty disappointed. Harvey Keitel plays the pianist son of a loan shark (Michael V. Gazzo, Frankie Five Angels in Godfather Two). It's just a slow moving, pretty drab, New York mob tale, definitely nothing to write home about. Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi in Godfather One) and Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts of The Sopranos) also have small roles. There's really not much more I can say.

A deeply troubled man (his behavior suggests a bipolar disorder) who typifies every anti-social mannerism conceivable wants to be a concert pianist...even though he's in his late 20's or early 30's and cannot perform in front of people. On the side, he's a brutal thug who collects money for his father, an aging mobster. SPOILER ALERT: He never makes it to Carnegie Hall. Meanwhile we have to sit by the hour watching Harvey Keitel NOT playing the piano. Yet he mimes playing the piano for long passages during which the camera films him from various angles. [Actually, we do see his hands on the keys as he finishes one piece for about 15 seconds.] In order to suggest that he is playing with rhapsodic abandon, he emotes with the music, contorting his face and body and humming along like Glenn Gould on LSD. If there's a movie-making equivalent to masturbation, this is it. "Horseman, pass by!"

Not the greatest. but what Expected ok for the price but a great film I like the actors and do not see them much these days.

Harvey Keitel is always great.

for husband not for me

ok

Tadellos in Ordnung, vielen Dank!

Les sous titres en français ne fonctionnent pas; quand on clique dans le menu sur ss titres en français, il apparaisse en anglais (pb d'écriture du DVD); donc n'étant pas très bonne en anglais, DVD peu utilisable!