Desertman84 Little Odessa is a crime film that provides a somber portrait of organized crime.It features Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly and Vanessa Redgrave.The film centers on centers hit man Joshua Shapira when he returns to his old neighborhood at Brooklyn.James Gray wrote and directed the film.Joshua is a hired killed for the Russian mob.When he was given an assignment to go back to his hometown,he renews his contact with his younger brother and an old flame.Unfortunately,not everyone in the family wants to see him.His father has disowned him and prevents him from visiting his seriously ill mother at bedside.This results into more pressure on Joshua's part as he tries to accomplish his mission and it eventually results in a bloody confrontation.Despite is slow pace and the fact that there is nothing new or groundbreaking with respect to plot elements in mob genre films,it definitely is worth watching.It consist of numerous outstanding performances from the cast especially Tim Roth as the murderous hit man.Also,it provides us a more realistic view of organized crime particularly the hit men.

jgaffan I saw this last night, and on the box somewhere it made reference to being a "Goodfellas" 'ish type of movie...or something along those lines. I cant lie, that was the hook for me being as I love Scorsese gangster movies. This is an EXCELLENT film, amazing in some parts just by the acting alone. Tim Roth...does more with a stare then most can do with words. He was perfect. And after seeing this I really wish I knew of more movies if he's done them were he plays a role similar to this (other then the obvious 'Reservoir Dogs'). Edward Furlong whom I usually don't much care for even pulls off a very believable character. I wont go into detail, or outline some sort of plot. Just go rent this movie if your a fan of the gangster type movies...sorry, GOOD gangster type movies. It is an impressive display of movies not needing excessive violence, but instead great acting to build suspense, or thrills. 9/10

Rick Blaine It's the camera-work which first impresses in this one. The shots are so well taken.Roth is excellent, bordering on superb, and should win the Hugh Laurie Award for the best job done portraying (and sounding convincingly like) a 'north a-merican' by a Brit.Are talents like Schell and Redgrave wasted? Hardly. More: their Russian is very good - something you wouldn't expect from a flick like this. Sometimes the language is almost overly simplistic but the accents are very good.This is a taut thriller - a scary one - and there are scenes which may have you gasping because they're so stark. As in 'Casino was a Bugs Bunny movie'. Something like that. Is this good? That's another matter. A lot of this is lent by Roth's performance - he's a cold blooded killer and he plays it with more the poker face than Hopkins in Remains of the Day.Denouement? Watch for it. When the movie's over you might miss the fact it's over. Is this a highly recommendable flick? Hard to say. Some excellent work here. But will you enjoy it? Benefit by it?That's a much more difficult question.PS. Hey IMDb! Stop correcting our spelling and giving us no chance to correct your incorrect corrections. Suggesting corrections is one thing; forcing them upon us is quite another.

famelovingboy68 WARNING: Spoiler that gives a clue to the ending. Little Odessa is a spinoff of The Godfather. Joshua Shapira is a cold-blooded killer whos family just moved to The US in Brooklyn in, I think it was the 70's. Their family has a dying mother and disgustingly and almost as bad as being an evil killer, an adulterous and even abusive father (Schell). The mafia violence is really graphic and disturbing. Josh's brother rueben (Eddie Furlong) adores him, even after finding out he's evil. Eddie again shows his calm, sensitive, innocence. He's really quiet. Rueben goes all over spying on his brother and witnesses his atrocities. The end is obscure to me, but maybe just cause I'm 17. I couldn't tell, but what it looked like was Rueben went spying on Josh again this time with a gun to arm himself and prevent a heinous act Josh is gonna commit and is seen and shoots and I'm not sure if the person died, then Rueben later gets shot by Josh and Josh gets rid of him and another human form, and has some flashback with Rueben and his mom. I'm not sure if that happened, you should tell me what happens.