starring Lillo Brancato
directed by Steve Stanulis
66 minutes
This documentary is about Lillo Brancato, the star of A Bronx Tale. He started doing drugs on a regular basis, after becoming a successful actor. He and a friend broke into an apartment of another friend in Dec 2005. Someone called the police. Lillo's friend shot and killed a police officer. Brancato went to prison for armed robbery. He spent more than 8 years in prison. His friend is still in prison for murder.
This documentary is a collection of interviews that director Steve Stanulis conducted with Lillo Brancato, friends of his, people he has worked with, and police officers. It lacks structure. If the director had a point of view it isn't clear what it is. There are conflicting opinions about Brancato but there is no attempt to reconcile them.
My best guess is that the director, who is himself a former police officer, didn't want to take a chance on getting on the wrong side of anyone, especially current and former police officers. Leaving the documentary ambiguous keeps him safe from most accusations that he did anything to help Brancato.
I was interested in seeing this documentary after I heard about it and about what happened to Brancato. I don't feel like this documentary added very much to my pool of knowledge about Brancato before or after he went to prison or about the night that the police officer was killed.
Has Brancato changed? Yes. Will he fall again? I don't know. Only time will tell. He has a long uphill climb ahead of him.
I don't recommend this documentary. It feels incomplete. I'm glad that I was able to see it on Tubi without having to pay for it.
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