Someone Else's America

views updated

Someone Else's America ★★★ 1996 (R)

Euro”Grumpy Old Men” explores friendship and the modern immigrant experience in Brooklyn. Bayo (Manojlovic) is a comical, sad-sack Serb who works at the bar of Alonso (Conti), a Spaniard who immigrated with his blind mother (Casares). Story follows Bayo's family as they illegally immigrate to chase the American dream and adapt to life once they arrive. Touchingly funny highlight involves a scheme by the men which enables Alonso's homesick mother to revisit her village in Spain. Filmed in Germany with sets built to resemble Brooklyn, picture has an appealingly unreal quality. Cast and crew together formed its own melting pot, with over 20 nationalities contributing. English and Serbo-Croatian with subtitles. 116m/C VHS . FR GB GE Tom Conti, Miki (Predrag) Manojlovic, Maria Casares, Zorka Manojlovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Chia-ching Niu, Andjela Stojkovic, Ananda Ellis; D: Goran Paskalyevic; W: Gordan Mihic; C: Yorgos Arvanitis; M: Andrew Dickson.

More From encyclopedia.com