Someone Else's America Movie Review 1996

Euro-"Grumpy Old Men" explores friendship and the modern immigrant experience in Brooklyn. Bayo (Manojlovic) is a comical, sad-sack Serb who works at the bar of Alonso (Conti), a Spaniard who immigrated with his blind mother (Casares). Story follows Bayo's family as they illegally immigrate to chase the American dream and adapt to life once they arrive. Touchingly funny highlight involves a scheme by the men which enables Alonso's homesick mother to revisit her village in Spain. Filmed in Germany with sets built to resemble Brooklyn, picture has an appealingly unreal quality. Cast and crew together formed its own melting pot, with over 20 nationalities contributing. English and Serbo-Croatian with subtitles.

Distribution

New Yorker Video, 16 W. 61st St., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10023, Phone: (212)645-4600, Toll-free: 800-447-0196, Fax: (212)645-3030, Email: info@newyorkerfilms.com, URL: http://www.newyorkerfilms.com

Available on VHS
Running time 116 minutes.
Originally from French, British, German.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Comedy Drama, New York, New York, Immigration, Buddies, Blindness, Culture Clash

Screenplay

Gordan Mihic

Cast

Tom Conti, Miki (Predrag) Manojlovic, Maria Casares, Zorka Manojlovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Chia-ching Niu, Andjela Stojkovic, Ananda Ellis

Cinematography

Yorgos Arvanitis

Director

Goran Paskalyevic

Music

Andrew Dickson

Producer

David Rose, Helga Baehr, Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mact Productions, Intrinsica Films, Lichtblick Filmproduktion, Stefi 2, October Films