Rialto

I enjoyed this film very much. "Rialto" is a powerful, impeccably directed drama about a middle-aged married man who becomes infatuated with a street hustler and continues to pursue him while his life falls apart. He's also grieving the recent loss of his father and lives with a family he's become increasingly estranged from. The performances in the film are all excellent, notably Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who is in almost every scene of the film.

"Rialto" reminded me a lot of the "angry young man" dramas the UK produced so well in the 60's. There's a slow, almost melancholy mood to the film, but it's never boring. The ending took me by surprise, but at the same time it felt strangely liberating.

This is another example of how the European film industry remains light years ahead of the U.S. Hollywood just isn't bold or brave enough to produce works like this. The film is bleak, but it never stops being intriguing.