State of Grace by Phil Joanou (1990)
Terry Noonan, a young undercover agent, returns to his old neighborhood for an investigation into the Irish mafia.
“I was looking for someone to slip in here; they wanted someone who knew the shit hole, a stranger.
I could have said no, but then I thought I could do it; it was an opportunity to face this situation.
Maybe you had left, you got married, and you forgot about me, I thought. And Jackie, I would have gotten him out of the shit hole..
But it was just an illusion.. it wasn’t reality, it was just a fucking illusion.
Like believing in angels or saints or whether something called grace exists.
And you believe in it, but it has nothing to do with reality..”
– Terry Noonan
Between present and past
What would you do in Terry’s place?
Catapulted back there, after ten years of absence, in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, where he grew up and lived for so long.
If the streets, the bars, and the atmospheres remain the same, what truly changes are the men, with their life paths and ambitions.
This is especially true for Terry, who has become a policeman and now finds himself in the unpleasant situation of having to deceive and frame his old friends and acquaintances.
The real problem is that Terry left a piece of his heart in that place. And perhaps even something more.
There’s “Frankie the boss,” for example, the one who moves and directs the criminal business with the Italians.
And especially his brother Jackie, to whom Terry has always been particularly attached.
Jackie is a raging lunatic, a notorious criminal with violent and ruthless methods, proudly Irish and disrespectful of his brother’s “business partners” because, as he says, “the last Italian to get here was named Colombo and lasted a week.”
Terry hopes to lead his brotherly friend out of the “shit hole,” but he knows that the task will not be easy.
Finally, there’s Kathleen, sister of Frankie and Jackie, disgusted by her brothers’ lifestyle and, above all, Terry’s first great love.
Between the two, a passion that was never completely extinguished rekindles, leading to dangerous and unexpected consequences.
As if that weren’t enough, the environment is saturated with drinking, both in bars and on the streets: Terry always smells “like a fucking distillery” and desperately asks his superior Nick to get him out.
Always too unclear for the role he holds, at times unable to recognize what is good and what is evil. Halfway between abyss and redemption, between betrayal and escape.
Phil Joanou is clearly inspired by Scorsese, Coppola, and Leone for this gangster movie filled with violence, betrayals, and redemptions.
It doesn’t produce a masterpiece, but we are nonetheless faced with a well-crafted product, where the various elements mix effectively.
Enhancing State of Grace is a top-notch cast and the music of Ennio Morricone.
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