Mean Streats(1973)

Thanks to consta 'Mean streets' is the first in a longer list of movies staring Robert DeNiro. The lead part in this movie belongs to Harvey Keitel who plays Charlie Cappa, a special type of a mafia guy. Charlie is a sensitive guy caught in the cognitive dissonance of his church-going and mafia-business caretaker ambitions. The movie opens before the credits with Charlie's voice over announcing the theme and the development of the movie: ' You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets, you do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.' John 'Johnny Boy' Civello (De Niro) is crazy. The character is impenetrable to us and to his world. He talks funny, he acts funny, he brakes the rules in a random way, he's totally imp revisable. I would say there might be something in common with Godfather but not too much. Mean Streets seems to me much less focused on the story order, events seem to happen without reason in a way that renders atmosphere. The de-centered narrative gives an impression of 'that corner' in the 70s and it is loosely brought together by the main character. And 'that corner' of the 70s happens mostly out of the daylight: night, bars, cinema, restaurants. The music enhances the random 'like-life' effects. Martin Scorsese directed, wrote the story and the screen play and appears (according to imdb) to have a personal interest to explore this type of theme. It is a movie worth watching again.