State of Grace [Region 2]

Overshadowed by GoodFellas when it was released in 1990, State of Grace gradually emerged as one of the best New York gangster films of its decade. It was also the first to feature the Irish American mob known as the Westies. Here, their territory west of Times Square is being gentrified by an unwelcome infusion of yuppie cash, squeezing them into a reluctant alliance with Mafia kingpins. Frankie (Ed Harris) is the boss; little brother Jackie (Gary Oldman) is his volatile muscle; their friend Terry (Sean Penn) has returned from an extended absence, harboring a dangerous secret while rekindling his love for Frankie and Jackie's sister Kathleen (Robin Wright, Penn's future wife). Giving one of his scariest, most violent performances, Oldman offers stark, brutal contrast to Harris's pent-up fury, while Penn breathes life into his character's standard-issue dilemma. A former protégé of Steven Spielberg's, director Phil Joanou handles this gritty potboiler with confident, unobtrusive style, ramping up the tension of divided loyalties, even as the plot grows increasingly familiar. --Jeff Shannon