Abel Ferrara is a maverick. Ever since he burst onto the scene in 1979, with his controversial punk slasher, Driller Killer, he has been making movies that are, in turn, stylish, thought-provoking, repulsive, and always fascinating.
Ferrara, dubbed the poet gangster of cinema, by actor Laurence Fishburne, has a tendency to overdo, to push things too far, sometimes to the detriment of the picture. But he rarely makes a film that is without merit, and is an artist to be reckoned with.
King of New York, released in 1990, is one of Abel Ferrara’s most accessible films. Part crime thriller, part social drama, it’s a strange and mesmerizing mishmash of genres and styles that is nothing short of compelling.
Frank White, played by a hypnotic Christopher Walken, is a former drug lord who returns to New York city after being released from prison, seeking to take total control of the criminal underworld, in order to give back to the community and help the poor of the city.
White, as played by Walken, is a fascinating character. Imagined by Ferrara to be a cross between Nicky Barnes, a Harlem gangster, and Joey Gallo, an Italian mobster, White is a brutal, complex figure, who revels in using force and violence, while seeing himself as a kind of dark knight in shining armor, who gives the poor and the lost, especially from black neighborhoods, a second chance, by recruiting them for his drug operation. He is an ends justify the means kind of guy, who would stop at nothing to achieve his goal.
Ferrara, and writer Nicholas St. John, try to tell a multifaceted story about the drug wars, government corruption, loyalty, and personal courage in the face of evil, and fill the film with characters that range from the realistic to the cartoonish.
Despite being shot quickly and on a modest budget of 5 point 3 million dollars, Ferrara, a visual stylist extraordinaire, manages to portray New York in the film in a way that is rarely shown in movies. As a beautiful, nocturnal landscape. Part noirish dream, part hellish nightmare. His vision of drug cartels as a kind of dressed to the nines tribal groups, who mostly speak through guns and violence, is alluring but somewhat fantastical, and his tendency to linger on the seedier aspects of criminal life borders on the distasteful.
But that is Ferrara’s style. Plenty of style, a dash of philosophical musing, and a touch of vulgarity. It’s a potent if not always palpable mix, that nonetheless makes his movies look and feel like no one else’s.
The terrific cast, led by Walken at his most ebullient and eccentric, includes an understated Wesley Snipes, and Laurence Fishburne, in an over the top but highly enjoyable performance.
Upon release, the film was criticized for its violence, and rightly so. As Ferrara’s tendency to push things too far and let some scenes overstay their welcome, is present here. And the sprawling story, covering a multitude of issues and characters in under two hours, make the film feel unevenly paced and, to some degree, tonally erratic. But these flaws don’t take away from the overall effect of the film, which is to mesmerize and captivate.
With the glut of movies made about the drug lords in the 1990s, King of New York stands out, because of its style, its sheer visual and aural power. It grabs you, and doesn’t let go, right up to its haunting final shot.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2024.
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