To MEAN STREETS. Nick Gomez used Scorcese's film as a blueprint for LAWS OF GRAVITY, obviously out of love for that movie, but done with respect. The opening shot of Peter Green is exactly the same as Harvey Keitel: awakening suddenly from an otherwise empty bed in his apartment, daytime-- gets a cigarette, lights it, stares. Jonny "No Bones" (Adam Trese) is the loose cannon character like Robert DeNiro's Johnny Boy, whose excesses have to be managed by his best friend. In LAWS, there's a confrontation between Jonny and one of Frankie's gun buying customers, where Jonny calls him "Mucka-ferguson".... similar to De Niro's Johnny Boy calling a guy in the bar a "mook". Despite these similarities, LAWS doesn't feel like a copycat flick, in the way Tarantino-clone films started falling from the sky after RESERVOIR DOGS. I think Nick Gomez utilized MEAN STREETS as a reference point for the form, as it was his first film, but filled in the content with details from his own era and neighborhood. Some of the dialogue is so natural and realistic, it had to be improv'd. Cassavettes is another obvious influence, as his characters are known for improv, for talking over each others' lines, everybody yelling at once. ASPIRING FILMMAKERS TAKE NOTE: With his debut feature, Nick Gomez demonstrates how to pay tribute to the masters of cinema without committing a soulless, unoriginal rip-off.
Review of Laws of Gravity
