Rise By Sin

The debut effort by writer/director team Santarsiero & Bernardi, Rise By Sin calls to mind early Hughes brothers but rises above the pack of Boyz N the Hood-knock offs with its exceptional dialogue and surprisingly effective turns by an amateur cast.

The acting has an ad-libbed feel which, whether its improvised or not, lends the flick a credibility that keeps things engaging. And it succeeds in capturing the profane poetry of the streets; these hoodlums can sling some serious bullshit. (”Hey, you know what guys with big dicks have for breakfast? No? Didn’t think you would.”)

Value systems clash as everyone struggles to survive without compromising their codes of ethics and loyalty to friends. Evolutionary philosopher Howard Bloom could have a field day dissecting this movie’s depiction of the mean streets of Philly as a perfect illustration of the way societies conduct clan warfare for dominance in the all-important pecking order.

The moral lessons of school are shown coming up against the temptation of crime, and repeatedly losing: “It’s like this. Magic Johnson, is he sick? No. Why? Because he got money. OJ Simpson. He killed 2 people. Is he guilty? No. ‘Cause he got money.”

While the message isn’t particularly original, and low-budget ghetto opera morality plays are their own subgenre now, Rise By Sin’s delivery and directorial flair keeps things interesting. Like Fresh, which also employs a chess metaphor, the movie demonstrates how people are as much a product of their environment as they are of their innate wits. “This shit hole town eats up all the good people,” main character Jimmy comments at one point, and you really see what he means.

The pretentious and laughably overwrought journal entries of his A-student little brother Charlie, on the other hand, are actually less eloquent, and unfortunately serve as the film’s narration. And while his naiveté is partially the point, its hard to believe he excels in school after hearing muddled mixed-metaphors and trite moralizing like, “While most of the world can rely on the screaming voices of concerned loved ones to light their path, my brother is forced to stumble aimlessly towards the dying whisper of a distant morality.”

Actor Rory Dunwoodie manages to single-handedly redeem such shortcomings, though, with his standout performance as Ray, the maneuvering, power-hungry Scarface wannabe. He’s got a great speech about night vision goggles that outlines perfectly the myths and dangers of living the kingpin lifestyle.

Billy Harding as Jimmy does a solid job as well, and his humorous conspiracy theories (he believes dedicated Republican, former WWII soldier and occasional baseball player Joe DiMaggio killed JFK in retribution for stealing Marliyn Monroe from him and used the Castro/Yankee connection to cover it up) tie in nicely later on when he is attempting to determine his best friend’s murderer.

Early on, a character in Rise By Sin warns another: “Yo, school is school, motherfucker. Business is business. Never get them two shits twisted, aight?” Predictably, them two shits get twisted. But the fun part is watching the tragedy unfold.

-Andy Gately, 2006