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Once in the Life
Two estranged half-brothers, Billy and Torch, reconnect during a brief jail stay. 20/20 Mike concocts a scheme in which the two of them will steal dope from some young couriers. The heist goes wrong when Billy shoots the couriers dead. They hole up in an abandoned building, and 20/20 Mike seeks help from an old cell mate, Tony.
| Release : | 2000 |
| Rating : | 5.2 |
| Studio : | The Shooting Gallery, Cinema Gypsy Productions, |
| Crew : | Art Department Assistant, Art Direction, |
| Cast : | Laurence Fishburne Titus Welliver Eamonn Walker Annabella Sciorra Gregory Hines |
| Genre : | Drama Action Crime |
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Reviews
Best movie of this year hands down!
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
If you loved Deep Cover, you might like this film as well. Many of the poetic interludes Fishburne recites in Deep Cover are from the lyrical script of "Once In the Life," a screen adaptation of a play that Fishburne wrote. If you love Larry as much as I do, you'll love this film that is all Larry, all hot, and all fleshed out. Of course there is gun play and illicit substance use, this is a gangster movie of sorts, after all, but the script is beautiful and the story is touching, even a little on the chick flick side.AMAZING film...dark, frightening, sexy, and exciting. If you ever sneaked out at night or hung out in a clubhouse, you'll get the proper impact of the cramped sets (metephorically echoing being trapped in the life). Full of clever foreshadowing and complex relationships, this film is tight..every sentiment mirrored in the set dressing and camera shots. GOOD WORK!
ONCE IN THE LIFE (2000) **1/2 Laurence Fishburne, Titus Welliver, Eamonn Walker, Annabella Sciorra, Paul Calderon, Gregory Hines, Michael Paul Chan, Dominic Chianese, Jr., Tiger Chen, Sue Costello, Jim Breuer. Fishburne makes his big-screen directorial debut adapting his play 'Riff Raff' about two half-brother, petty criminal siblings (Welliver is memorable as the ne'er do well junkie with a short fuse) who meet unlikely after many years and after botching an improvised crime together sit and wait things out in a crack house recalling their pasts with Fishburne's former cell mate Walker who is equally in deep water.Great acting and claustrophobic settings only mar in this rather stagy and staid film in an otherwise engaging character study of losers.
Three scumbags get their just deserts after wasting their lives in greed, drugs, ego, and bad attitudes. Interesting and well done; this style of film always makes me wonder where reality leaves off and imagination takes over. Even though these folks were the scum of the earth I still found myself pitying them. They never really stood much of a chance.
As an old white housewife I can still appreciate that Laurence Fishburne is one of our finest actors. anyone who appreciates his work like in Deep Cover might enjoy watching the incredible acting range of this actor. Since I think this is his directorial debut it might prove even more interesting. All of the acting is quite good. If you can't take lower Manhattan junky worlds or the reality of crime life (not glorified action shoot-em ups) then this is not a film you would enjoy. It is Mr. Fishburne's usual contribution to incredibly subtle relationships. I would love to see Larry and Anthony Hopkins go at each other some day in a movie.
