No Abel Ferrara movie is devoid of interest, and this one (1996) — a period melodrama set in the 30s about brothers (Vincent Gallo, Christopher Walken, and Chris Penn) in a gangster family — certainly has some actorly punch (the cast also includes Benicio Del Toro, Annabella Sciorra, and Isabella Rossellini) as well as the sort of neo-Rembrandt atmospherics and gory histrionics one expects from such Godfather-ish material. But it also suggests that Ferrara, hampered as well as helped by his usual screenwriter, Nicholas St. John, doesn’t have much aptitude for handling period. (JR)