The fraternity of Alpha Dog has nothing to do with academic excellence. In this case, it’s gloriously all about not being perceived as the “faggot” or “bitch” of the bunch.
January 19, 2007 (Press Release) --
Based on the notorious August 2000 murder of 14-year-old Nick Markowitz, director Nick Cassavetes’ controversial feature Alpha Dog does at least make a token effort to modify the names and settings from its all-to-real counterpart. (The movie is set in the fall of 1999 in California’s desert Inland Empire, whereas the real-life drama happened nine months later in the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo coastline.)
Nonetheless, the story (filmed in the fall of 2004 and taken partly from declassified documents from the Santa Barbara DA’s office) so closely follows the Markowitz case that James Blatt, the attorney for recently captured fugitive suspect Jesse James Hollywood, has strenuously worked to oppose the movie’s release. (For more information, check out “Accustomed to Alpha Males”, my April 2006 feature on the film’s behind-the-scenes.)
Alpha Dog tells the story of Zack Mazursky (Anton Yelchin), the sheltered and good-natured 15-year-old son of an upper middle-class professional couple in the college suburb of Claremont, CA. The maudlin opener to the film – a montage of baby pictures and Bar Mitzvah photos of Zack, set to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” – is all the more jarring in the contrast that it stands to the rest of what follows.
It’s actually quite a while until we see Zack again, however, or get any hint that his life will be the fulcrum on which the story turns. Most of the first reel is about the escalating war between two gangs of drug pushers – one led by Zack’s elder half-brother, Jake “Tattoey” Mazursky (so named for being covered neck-to-jock in Hebrew and gang tattoos, played by Ben Foster.) Jake loves and cares for his kid brother Zack, safely cosseted with his father and mother (his father’s second wife, Olivia, played by Sharon Stone) in an upscale new home. It is immediately clear that young Zack is the “heir” and Jake the “spare” – a ghost from a bad marriage past, long before he turned to gangs and crime (and perhaps the reason why he did.)
Jake’s rival is Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), the son of veteran low-end Mafia man Sonny Truelove (played with slimily intelligent unctuousness by Bruce Willis.) After one of many ultra-violent fights over unpaid debts, Johnny wants to make an example of the ungrateful “kike” once and for all, and threatens “Tattoey’s” girlfriend at work.
Jake and his homeboys retaliate by raiding Johnny’s rented hillside pad and trashing the place. Truelove then takes off to hide with his network of friends in Palm Springs and plot his next ante-upping revenge – when the perfect opportunity falls into his lap. Zack Mazursky has just run away from home after having been caught with drug paraphernalia following an all-nighter with Jake and his girlfriend. Truelove finds Zack wandering the street, brutally attacks him, and kidnaps the youngster to use him as leverage in the war with his older brother.
Source: http://www.yahoo.com
Posted By Telly Davidson
Nonetheless, the story (filmed in the fall of 2004 and taken partly from declassified documents from the Santa Barbara DA’s office) so closely follows the Markowitz case that James Blatt, the attorney for recently captured fugitive suspect Jesse James Hollywood, has strenuously worked to oppose the movie’s release. (For more information, check out “Accustomed to Alpha Males”, my April 2006 feature on the film’s behind-the-scenes.)
Alpha Dog tells the story of Zack Mazursky (Anton Yelchin), the sheltered and good-natured 15-year-old son of an upper middle-class professional couple in the college suburb of Claremont, CA. The maudlin opener to the film – a montage of baby pictures and Bar Mitzvah photos of Zack, set to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” – is all the more jarring in the contrast that it stands to the rest of what follows.
It’s actually quite a while until we see Zack again, however, or get any hint that his life will be the fulcrum on which the story turns. Most of the first reel is about the escalating war between two gangs of drug pushers – one led by Zack’s elder half-brother, Jake “Tattoey” Mazursky (so named for being covered neck-to-jock in Hebrew and gang tattoos, played by Ben Foster.) Jake loves and cares for his kid brother Zack, safely cosseted with his father and mother (his father’s second wife, Olivia, played by Sharon Stone) in an upscale new home. It is immediately clear that young Zack is the “heir” and Jake the “spare” – a ghost from a bad marriage past, long before he turned to gangs and crime (and perhaps the reason why he did.)
Jake’s rival is Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), the son of veteran low-end Mafia man Sonny Truelove (played with slimily intelligent unctuousness by Bruce Willis.) After one of many ultra-violent fights over unpaid debts, Johnny wants to make an example of the ungrateful “kike” once and for all, and threatens “Tattoey’s” girlfriend at work.
Jake and his homeboys retaliate by raiding Johnny’s rented hillside pad and trashing the place. Truelove then takes off to hide with his network of friends in Palm Springs and plot his next ante-upping revenge – when the perfect opportunity falls into his lap. Zack Mazursky has just run away from home after having been caught with drug paraphernalia following an all-nighter with Jake and his girlfriend. Truelove finds Zack wandering the street, brutally attacks him, and kidnaps the youngster to use him as leverage in the war with his older brother.
Source: http://www.yahoo.com
Posted By Telly Davidson
Email
Print
SPAM
LEAVE A COMMENT
