Wonderful character development!

How sad is this?

A Brilliant Conflict

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

James Woods is an intense Actor and Larry Clark is an intense Director. Here they combine their intensity into a Mainstream Story through an underground lens. Although Woods is the nucleus in this radiating Movie he is not without the support of the other three Leads spinning around His sometimes over exposed explosive Performance.The Director also flourishes here with some Artful restraint (as in the drug deal gone bad) as its realism connects with the Style of the Film. This is a slick looking Movie despite the Director's intentions. It also has a downbeat rhythm that is enticing in its exposure of low-life druggies and assorted other dregs.This is an underrated Film that holds up fine and is a disturbing but engrossing look-see at those other People that inhabit the underbelly of our Streets. It is a hard watch at times, but you asked for it and you get it with an uncompromising and Guilty Pleasure ambiance. After all, if Audiences weren't interested in this sort of uncomfortable, gritty, diversion, there wouldn't be so much of it.

Although the rest of the film doesn't live up to the visceral and exciting opening, this is a good crime film by the controversial Larry Clark. Basically, in most crime films, everything goes wrong by the end, and that's no different here, so it treads familiar ground and doesn't really have anything new to say regarding juvenile delinquents, but Clark should be appreciated for his characterizations here. Every line of dialogue feels natural coming from each character's mouth, so the writing is very consistent, and the conversations that occur throughout the film are snappy and amusing for the most part. The critics were right about James Woods stealing the show, but the other three leads held their own well, and I was particularly impressed by the character transformation from Vincent Kartheiser.The Reverend character was pointless though, and his introductory scene is just an unnatural way of getting the guns in the main characters' hands. He could've been cut out altogether, especially since his dialogue wasn't very well written or as funny as the writers may have thought. I liked the music used, especially in the club scene and the ending, and the cinematography was better than I expected. It looked especially good in the finale. There's a single gunfight that takes place in the film, which is directed so well and realistically that I wanted to see more, but this isn't an action movie as much as it is a character study, so it was a smart move to keep the action to a bare minimum. I get a real kick out of crime films with non-linear structures, and this is one of them. There's a plot, but the movie doesn't take a straightforward approach to get through it.This film definitely isn't for everyone though, and I was a bit worried as it went one because it started to become tedious and lose my interest, but it manages to drastically pick up at the end as tragedy rears its ugly head. This isn't a film for anyone who's squeamish when it comes to vivid violence though, as well as people poking needles in their skin, but this is a Larry Clark film, so what else do you expect? He doesn't give a damn about his characters here, he's showing how pathetic and miserable their lifestyles are, and thus, one shouldn't expect to feel any sympathy for them even though the actors bring some added personality to the table. This isn't as bad as his other films in terms of what is shown, so I guess one could call it his most accessible film, and most are likely to think it's his most entertaining effort.

Caveat: Graphic violence and lots of vulgar language in this one, in case you're the delicate type. Just as violent as "Pulp Fiction", this one is not full of dark wit and funky style. It is an intense look at doomed people existing in a world of drugs, crime, no vision beyond their noses, and little self-restraint. It's similar to "Kalifornia". James Woods, Vincent Kartheiser, and Natasha Gregson Wagner are great, and Melanie Griffith is okay. A young couple, junkies and petty thieves, are taken under the smelly wing of an older couple, who have decided to "teach" (use) them in the ways of "upper level" crime. The first five minutes tells you what you need to know about the kids. Now it's only a matter of time...

I am a huge Vincent Kartheiser fan thanks to Angel so while looking for other things he's been in I came across Another Day In Paradise. I watched the preview for it on Kids about twenty times before my friend bought it for me for Christmas. It can't be rented here thanks to too many people renting Kids for actual kids. I watched the director's cut and the commentary and I just couldn't get enough. It's now in my top five movie list. Everyone seems to think it sucked but it's more than worth renting, it's worth owning. I now have two different copies. Yes it is very graphic but it makes the film that much more realistic. I've seen worse things than they show on this film in other movies that aren't nearly this well done.