this movie do have some great noirish or neorealist visuals and and it tell a story that be refreshingly free of hollywood sugar coating and which be only possible because it be essentially an independent foreign film . but some of the scene go on for much too long ( the wedding and especially ) and and i find the exaggerated acting and unrealistic dialog to be more fit for the stage than for the silver screen . the dialog be particularly distracting and and it seem to get bad a the movie go on . most of the character be either italian american or italian immigrant live in new york in the twenty and thirty and but their dialog sound like they be practice line for a shakespeare play while they mix cement and laid brick . toward the end i be laugh and and not because the filmmaker want me to . i guess the stilted poetry could be defend by say that the character would have be speak italian and and the dialog be a literal translation of how they would really talk . but it absolutely do not work for me . another line of dialog make me laugh for a different reason represent the main character son and born and raise in new york in the 1920 and suddenly pick up a lovely lilting british accent . i be only guess this have something to do with the fact that the movie be make in england . i give this movie an a for effort and intention and but a considerably low grade for execution .