SYNOPSICS
Wasted Talent (2018) is a English movie. Steve Stanulis has directed this movie. Lillo Brancato,Drea de Matteo,Steve Stanulis,Damon Dash are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2018. Wasted Talent (2018) is considered one of the best Documentary movie in India and around the world.
Wasted Talent is a gritty documentary where director Steve Stanulis and producer Noel Ashman together examine the temptations and struggles many young celebrities go through on their rise to stardom. It focuses on the story of actor Lillo Brancato who was once considered to be the next Robert De Niro, after his huge success starring in the films A Bronx Tale(De Niro's directorial debut), Renaissance Man, Crimson Tide and the classic TV show The Sopranos. However, Brancato got trapped in the underworld of Hollywood instead becoming a drug addict culminating in his arrest for the murder of a new York city police officer on a drug excursion gone horribly wrong. Though Brancato was cleared of the murder charge, he still did eight and a half years in jail on an attempted burglary conviction. During his time in prison, the young actor was finally able to get clean and sober and is now struggling to redeem himself in the fickle world of entertainment.
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Wasted Talent (2018) Reviews
tough to sympathize
Greetings again from the darkness. The first thing to note here is that the title refers to a young actor who scuttled his career through drug addiction - an addiction which ultimately led to a burglary that ended in tragedy and a prison sentence. What the title doesn't refer to is the police officer who was killed by the actor's associate during that attempted burglary. In my opinion, what was wasted was that officer's life, so no matter how talented and charming and rehabilitated one might find Lillo Brancato, my sympathies were with that police officer's family the entire run time ... not a possible squandered Golden Globe. The goal here is to set aside personal opinion, and evaluate this documentary from director Steve Stanulis on merit. The subject is Lillo Brancato, the young man "discovered" to star alongside Robert De Niro in A BRONX TALE, the 1993 film that was also De Niro's directorial debut. Mr. Stanulis, himself an actor and filmmaker, has a good grasp of the industry and wisely puts Mr. Brancato front and center so he can tell much of his own story. Lillo recalls in great detail the events that led to his being cast in his first movie, and getting to meet Chaz (Palminteri) and "Bob" (De Niro). He was basically plucked off the beach due to his facial similarities to De Niro, and then proceeded to wow the filmmakers with his natural acting ability. He's also very forthcoming about his drug use (a crack pipe in a car), his ongoing commitment to staying clean in the program, and his desire to continue acting. Other interviews include journalists, Lillo's "super" attorney Joseph Tacopina (a likely documentary subject himself), other actors including Lillo's friend and co-star from "The Sopranos" Drea De Matteo, Lillo's brother, former NBA player Jayson Williams, and even clips from the District Attorney at the time the case was at trial. Director Stanulis also interviews local cops who make it very clear that the police force remain mad at Lillo, and view him as a privileged kid who wasn't held accountable for the death of one of their own. See, Lillo's friend shot Officer Daniel Enchautegui, and Lillo was charged only with the 2005 burglary, while his friend went to prison for murder. So no, the cops don't believe justice was served. There are some attempts to couch this as a young guy from the neighborhood making it big and not being able to handle fame and money. Once again, it's difficult to muster sympathy for someone in this situation. It does help that Lillo is so direct about staying clean and sober since November 2006, being released from prison in 2013, and resuming his acting in 2015. He also admits to not heeding the advice from either De Niro or James Gandolfini, both who recognized the dangerous path the young man was on. Fortunately for Lillo, his second chance comes at a time when he's still young enough to enjoy. Sadly, there are no second chances for the officer that was killed that day.
C+
The description of this documentary claims it is examining temptations and struggles of young celebrities on the rise to fame. Um. It focuses on actor Lillo Brancato exclusively. In a nutshell, it mostly focuses on how he got the part in The Bronx Tale, his drug addiction which led to a cop being murdered and how still today New York cops still hate him. Which is fine because it was an interesting story but after watching the one hour and six minute documentary I googled the story and found out he went to prison for 8 1/2 years and I'm not sure they even told us that part. Maybe it was passively mentioned so I didn't even realize it. Even though I found the documentary interesting and I enjoyed watching it I'm still not entirely sure what it's supposed to be about. Kind of jumped all over the place and just gave me bits and pieces of random information.
Missed the mark ... at least for me.
The narrator in the beginning says "this is not a puff piece"....excuse me...it absolutely is. Moreover, it appeared to me to be an ad by a guy trying to get back into the business. It was less a story about what happened, and more an attempt to rebuild the career of someone with talent who was given an incredible, rare opportunity, threw it away and now cleaned up and decided he wants it back. But this "audition" falls flat. In a nutshell it is the story of a rich, privileged individual who had everything and CHOOSE to throw it all away, and, as a result of his bad decisions, an innocent off duty cop is dead. What makes it even worse is he escaped punishment for his contribution to the officer's death most likely because of his money and privilege. If a person is able to come back from drug addiction and stay clean, good for them, but the destruction and damage to innocents left in their wake does not just go away because of their epiphany. This film seems to suggest otherwise. I think one of the last people they interviewed really summed up the message of the film when she said (in effect) that we should feel sorry for these rich famous people because we little people have no idea how difficult it is to have everything we could ever want and we cannot possibly understand how boring that is. As one of the little people I suggest you skip this one.
And Now I Care Even Less
I lost interest in about five minutes. I have no idea who these people are except for Lilo Brancato. Why was an ex-NYPD officer doing a documentary about someone involved in the killing of one of his own? I couldn't get past that. I saw this as a publicity push to shine up Brancato's image and that will never happen. To be sure, many people told him as he spiraled out of control that he was wasting his talent but he CHOSE that path anyway. I want no part of his egocentric comeback. Officer Enchautegui will not have that opportunity. Poorly made, poorly executed, poor choice of subject. I wonder who paid for this?
No review need: looser whines and weeps about being looser
The subject of this film is a junkie who was once an actor "filled with promise". He became an absolute looser junkie (heroin) pretty quick, becoming a gangster criminal closely follows. Put his entire life in the trash. He is behind this film, somehow, I suppose, hoping to make some money and get another chance. Trying to tell all of us that as a looser he had some hard time and made some bad choices, being a looser and all. Could all of youze guys gve me another chance? Anser: NO. Forget about it. This documentary is seriously unwatchable. Maybe if was about the actor, but it is a documentary driven and run by the actor/looser/junkie and some pathetic, dirty old man who was once a cop. Disgusting is the word on this bit of trash. Forget this guy. Forget this infomercial for junkies.