FIND ME GUILTY: Blu-ray debut for a Sidney Lumet gem boasting Vin Diesel's best role

TrustMovies first saw FIND ME GUILTY -- the penultimate film from the late, great Sidney Lumet (shown below) -- back in 2006 when it was first released.

He enjoyed it immensely then and found it just as much fun again now, thirteen years later. Though he must also say that this "take" on the longest federal trial in American history -- which might, back in 2006, have seemed to favor those adorable Mafia hoods (who were up on multiple charges) over the somewhat nasty-appearing government prosecutors -- looks a bit different today.

Now, with a lot more understanding of the damage the mafia does to every society with which it interacts, audiences may be a bit more likely to glom onto the lengthy and passionate speech delivered by the leading prosecutor (played quite well by Linus Roache), as he highlights, oh, so specifically, the costs to society -- from protection rackets to drugs to multiple murder -- of Mafia interference.

Of course, it's the mob "wise guys" -- one in particular played to a fare-thee-well and with great good humor by Vin Diesel (below) -- who prove the most fun, just as they did to the jurors who served on the actual trial, but Find Me Guilty is smart enough to understand and appreciate the immense and unsettling societal costs of an unchecked Mob that makes and lives by its own laws.

Mr. Diesel plays a real-life fellow named Jackie DiNorscio who, fed up with his fairly useless attorney, fires the guy and asks the court to allow him to defend himself in this famous trial that had more defendants than you could shake a stick at. The judge said OK, but I'll bet succeeding judges in Mafia trials went out of their way not to let this happen again.

How DiNorscio charmed the jury, even as he riles the biggest mob boss on trial (played with his usual strength and style by Alex Rocco, above, right), makes up most of the movie's two-hour running time. Much of DiNorscio's in-court dialog comes directly, we are told at the film's beginning, from court records. However, Mr. Lumet, never being a stickler for the truth over a good story, is, as co-writer here, up to his usual and much-appreciated tricks.

In the supporting cast are an interestingly used Peter Dinklage (above) playing one of the mob attorneys who occasionally helps out our "hero," and an even more unusually-used Raúl Esparza (below), as Jackie's drug-addled, turncoat cousin. In the role of the judge, Ron Silver has a few juicy, well-played scenes and moments, too.

Yes, as with most mob movies, this one's guy-oriented, though Annabella Sciorra has one good scene as Jackie's put-upon wife (her husband was a non-stop cocksman, it seems), and Marcia Jean Kurtz makes the most of her small screen time as one of the prosecutors.

It is Sidney Lumet's love of New York City and its denizens, however, together with his ability for smart pacing, sharp dialog, and just-plain-good-storytelling, that tops it all, making Find Me Guilty a pleasure that proves anything but guilty. See it if you haven't as yet -- or maybe once again, if you already have.

From MVD Visual and part of its Marquee Collection, the Blu-ray and DVD hit the street this past Tuesday, September 17 -- available now for purchase and (I hope) rental. Among the relatively minor Bonus Features is a very nice five-minute conversation with Mr. Lumet.

Innocence & insistence power Tom Shadyac's legitimately feel-good film, BRIAN BANKS

A true-life tale that shines a most interesting light on  -- immediately and without any undue effort -- everything from the Black Lives Matter and Me2 movements to our woeful criminal justice system, BRIAN BANKS tells the story of the high-school student of the title, a 16-year-old boy with the not-at-all-impossible dream of playing for the NFL, whose life and career are cut short by an accusation leading to a prison term that destroys any possible football career. How this young man, seemingly innocent from just about every angle imaginable, sets out to prove this innocence against the odds is what lies ahead.

From a screenplay by Doug Atchison and directed by Tom Shadyac (shown at left), Brian Banks turns out to be that relatively rare "inspirational" movie that actually proves to be genuinely inspiring, rather than the faux feel-good we usually get from this genre. Mr. Atchison's screen-writing and dialog are up to the task at hand, while Mr. Shadyac's direction is just as good, seldom hitting things too hard or repeating what we know.

If repetition does occur -- as when Brian (played exceedingly well by Aldis Hodge, above and below) is told, over and over by the very folk he implores to help him -- this is for good reason, as he (and we) come to better understand just how loaded and unfair the criminal justice system is for the certain types of people who can so easily become incarcerated for years/decades. And, yes, I mean poor and/or "of color," rather than, say, Jeffrey Epstein.

What makes the movie -- and from all accounts, the man himself -- so stirring and active-positive, is Banks' unrelenting fervor and determination to prove his innocence. Mr. Hodge turns what could become annoying, repetitive and even tiresome into something rich and mammoth.

Hodge, who looks remarkably similar to the real Brian, wins us over completely, just as he does the folk from the California Innocence Project to whom he turns for help. The group's leader, Justin Brooks, played with his usual professionalism and subtle flair by Greg Kinnear (at right, below), is loathe to take on Brian as a client because the deck is so stacked against Banks that Brooks feels the result will only defeat and depress this prisoner, now a parolee, even further.

Interestingly, we don't learn the details of just why Brian has been tossed into prison until about a half-hour into the film. This is smart movie-making because it keeps us in a certain suspense, even as we grow to appreciate Brian himself. And when we do finally see what happened and meet Brian's accuser (brought to life by a terrific Xosha Roquemore), any puzzle pieces remaining begin to fall into place. (That's Sherri Shepherd, below, right, equally caring and commanding as Banks' mother)

If you are familiar with the story of Brian Banks, the movie should bring it all to fine life. If you're not, I suspect you'll be even more transfixed. From Bleecker Street and running just 99 minutes, the film opens nationwide this Friday, August 9. Here in South Florida, you can find it in the Miami area at a number of Regal Cinemas, at AMC's Sunset Place 24, Hialeah 12 and Aventura Mall 24 and at the Flagship Cinemas 14, Homestead; in Broward County at AMC's Pompano Beach 18 and the Cinemark Paradise 24 in Davie; and in Palm Beach County at the Cinemark Boynton Beach 14 and Cinemark Palace, Boca Raton. Wherever you live across the country, click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

Blu-ray debut for Gérard Corbiau's under-rated musical/visual/sexual spectacle, FARINELLI

When FARINELLI was first released theatrically in the USA, back in 1995, it rather divided our major critics, winning Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes but losing its BFLF Oscar nomination to the winner, Burnt by the Sun.

When TrustMovies first saw the film he was hugely impressed by its visual beauty, its music, the castrati subject matter, along with the two gorgeous and sexy young Italian actors in the leading roles: Stefano Dionisi and Enrico LoVerso. Seeing the film again, 24 years later, it seems even better: deeper, stronger, more unusual, and every bit as beautiful as I remembered.

As directed and co-written by Gérard Corbiau, at right, the movie grabs you from almost the first few frames as a nude young man shouts down a warning from high above to another, younger boy, singing in the chorus below. What happens next is awful and riveting, setting the cinema table for so much that is to be served -- theme-, character-, and plot-wise over the nearly two hours to come.

Though the film moves cleverly and easily back and forth in time, it more formally begins as our young- adult Farinelli, played by Dionisi, below,

accompanied by his older brother, Riccardo (Lo Verso, below), impresses a surprised crowd with his amazing vocal skills and then shares a sexual conquest with his brother.

They share everything, it turns out, from their music to their finances to their women. (Farinelli was a stage name for Carlo Broschi, born in 1705 in what is now Apulia, Italy; brother Riccardo eventually became a noted composer and conductor.)

Carlo is by this time a castrato (having earlier been, or so he and we are told, in a terrible horseback-riding accident in which his scrotum was crushed). This has given him amazing vocal skills and range, while still enabling him -- said to have often been the case with eunuchs -- to achieve erection and full sexual union without ejaculating that life-giving sperm. Think of the fellow as the ultimate in pleasurable birth control.

As the film winds on and around, we're treated to other interesting subjects -- from the theatrical competition between the London theater that housed the work of Handel, the most famous composer of the time (played by Jeroen Krabbé, above, standing) and a lesser-known theatrical venue; creativity and its discontents (brought to sad life by brother Riccardo); the meaning of family (both birth and choice) and what one person might do to another to achieve his desired success.

Along the way we meet a raft of fascinating subsidiary characters, too -- from a continuing romantic interest (Elsa Zylberstein, above) to a mother and her beautiful but infirm son (below), both of whom provide our Farinelli with help and affection.

What holds this all together, however, are the gorgeous music and eye-popping visuals -- sound, production and costume design to die for -- giving us quite a splendid view of how 18th Century theatricals might have looked and sounded.

There's a lot of drama here -- melo and otherwise -- and the performances of Dionisi and LoVerso are exquisitely on target as the loving/feuding brothers. (Dionisi, as it turns out, had to learn to sing for this role and does a terrific job of lip-synching.)

The Blu-ray transfer in 2K helps preserve a truly splendid piece of moviemaking about a subject of which we've seen far too little. And don't miss the nearly hour-long Bonus Feature, Nostaliga for a Lost Voice, which details how so much of this amazing movie was researched and filmed -- with special attention to the way in which Farinelli's unusual voice was recreated, using the voices of two different singers, a female soprano and male counter-tenor, then seamlessly joining the two in the sound studio. Fascinating!

From Film Movement Classics and running 111 minutes, Farinelli hits the street this coming Tuesday, April 23, on Blu-ray, DVD and digital -- for purchase and/or rental.