James Greenberg in The Hollywood Reporter called this 2006 Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee “the visual equivalent of a Bruce Springsteen song,” which strikes me as the perfect description. A stark and volatile film, Steel City follows the quiet ordeal of PJ (Tom Guiry), a young man struggling to make his way in a world where the job market is tight and emotional support (always tenuous at best) is thin, especially now that PJ's father Carl (John Heard) is behind bars after a fatal car accident. PJ's feelings of abandonment are complicated by his uncertainty regarding others standing by him, including his girlfriend Amy (America Ferrera) and his uncle Vic (Raymond J. Barry), both of whom he seems to push away just as they rally around him. Writer-director Brian Jun looks at the warring feelings eddying through PJ—love, regret, despair, pride—in this smartly conceived and surely executed debut from a promising new talent. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one by filmmaker Brian Jun and actors John Heard and Clayne Crawford; the other by Jun and director of photography Ryan Samul), a short by Jun entitled “For Jimmy Brown” (12 min.), and deleted scenes (12 min.). Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid film.] (M. Johanson)
Steel City
PeaceArch, 95 min., R, DVD: $26.99 Volume 23, Issue 4
Steel City
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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