Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Off Jackson Avenue
Directed by John-Luke Montias
Multivisionaire Pictures 07/09 Feature Film
Not Rated

The three lead characters in this crime drama are on the same path but in different situations: they are caught up in predicaments beyond their control in which they feel helpless.

Olivia (Jessica Pimentel) leaves her home in Mexico and arrives in New York eager to start work at a restaurant job she's been promised. Imagine her shock and revulsion when she discovers that she has been lied to and the real work is being a whore in a Queens bordello. The other girls tell her to calm down and that in three years or so they may move on to a better life. Olivia feels trapped and waits for the right moment to do something to free herself.

The prostitution ring is run by Milot (Stivi Paskosi), an Albanian wheeler-dealer who has almost put Eddie Chang (Clem Cheung), his Chinese competitor, out of business. That is why he has hired Tomo (Jun Suenaga), a Japanese hit man, to get rid of him. Four of Chang's gang don't know what to make of this brisk and enigmatic outsider who claims to be an English teacher in Japan most of the year. Tomo's concentration on taking care of business is shattered when he learns that his mother has died. She starts appearing to him telling him not to kill.

The last leading character is Joey (John-Luke Montias), an efficient car thief who is raising money to purchase a tire shop of his own. He is caring for his uncle (Gene Ruffini) who startles him with his sudden decision to move to Florida where he can take care of himself.

In this intricately structured drama, all three characters converge on a street off Jackson Avenue in Queens. Writer and director John-Luke Montias makes the most of the tight squeezes Olivia, Toma, and Joey find themselves in as they try to find some breathing space and squirm free.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat