Ray Romano’s directorial debut is a hit and we are looking forward to more from him
One of the films screened at the Annapolis Film Festival was Ray Romano’s directorial debut film, Somewhere in Queens. The story follows two characters, Leo (Ray Romano) and Angela (Laurie Metcalf) Russo who live a blue collar life with their large Italian family. The Russo’s have a son Sticks (Jacob Ward) who, to their family is an awkward shy boy. However, to his high school, he is the star basketball player on their varsity team. Leo has always tried his best to be the best father he can to Sticks, which is why Leo risks everything to help his son when he is offered a scholarship to play basketball in college.
Our impression after watching this film is that there is truly something here for everyone to love. The plot of Somewhere in Queens may seem fairly familiar, to which it is. A small family realizes that their child has an opportunity of a lifetime and does everything they can to make sure that they pave the way for their child to succeed. But where this film differs from the rest is how it delivers this narrative.
From a stylistic lens, this film doesn’t feel overproduced where every scene is drawn out and milked out of. It is so easy for films to take this topic and overdramatize it to create a larger narrative. This film does the opposite and leans into how small this story is. To an extent, every scene feels small and almost feels like a casual storytelling experience, but all these small moments culminate to the bigger picture of the film in the end. And this is something that Romano excels at with all his work. Romano in many of his past works helps give the simple and mundane a new life with either humor or heart. And he brings both into play with this film. One of our favorite moments from the film is when the Russo family gets together and leans into the Italian-American antics that we have all either witnessed ourselves or know about through pop culture. The portrayal of the family is definitely humorous and done for the laughs, but also feels authentic with how raw and real their chemistry is. And this is the other thing that Romano does so well in which is drawing out the humanity in each of the characters he touches. As a viewer, you are able to fall in love with the characters on screen because they aren’t all over the top and feel like people you know. The characters in this film, at the crux of it, feel like real people that were picked up from the real world and dropped onto the screen in front of you. And that is both attributed to the impeccable acting from each character in the film as well as the directing style Romano choose to use for this film.
Our lasting impression of Somewhere in Queens was that it is a truly unique film that we cannot wait to watch again once it is out to the public. It is a film with a lot of heart and tells a story that is simple but meaningful. The film comes out this month on April 21st, 2023.
