Illtown

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Illtown ★★½ 1996

A happy trio of yuppyish Florida drug dealers, led by Rapaport's Dante, land in their own inferno when Dante's former business partner Gabriel (Trese), emerges from jail hellbent on revenge. Danza plays the evil, effeminate underworld boss while Hayes takes the high road as the saintly detective. Abundance of metaphors aside and amid all the violence, the sluggish narrative style, with everything thrown in from dream sequences and flashbacks to dissolves and slow motion, is more effective at setting a mood than telling a story. Effective score and powerful performances, beautifully filmed by Denault, make a stylish pic that sacrifices substance. 103m/C VHS . Michael Rapaport, Lili Taylor, Adam Trese, Kevin Corrigan, Paul Schulze, Angela Featherstone, Saul Stein, Tony Danza, Isaac Hayes; D: Nick Gomez; W: Nick Gomez; C: Jim Denault; M: Brian Keane.