New York City, the 1930s. A powerful crime family is caught in a lethal crossfire between union organizers and brutal corporate bosses. Against this turbulent backdrop, the family's three street-hardened brothers and the women they love are about to be plunged into a deadly confrontation with their enemies, with each other, and with their own dark heritage of violence, madness and murder.Although Abel Ferrara is still making films, this might be his last "big" one. All the titles he is known for, from "Ms. 45" to "The Addiction" seem to taper off after this title. Why? Certainly he did not start making bad movies, did he? (But, who knows? Even Francis Ford Coppola deteriorated.) What makes this better than the average Mafia movie is that it focuses less on the violence (though that happens), and much more on the psychology. We see these men as they see themselves, and we see that the women in their lives do not always see them in as glamorous of a light. This makes for an interesting comparison.

Ain't nothing divides the good folk who write a review for IMDb like a good film. And the better the film, the more extreme their views are. The Funeral is described by some who, like me, enjoy adding their two ha'porth worth to the User Review pages as 'a waste of time', 'pointless' and 'abysmal'. Don't believe a word of it. Abel Ferrara might not have the technical skills of Spielberg or his fellow New York director Scorsese, but what he does almost peerlessly is to get brilliant performances from his players who obviously relish the screenplays he and his scriptwriter conjure up for them. There is something almost magical about the films this guy comes up with, and The Funeral is a sparkling example. Set in Depression-era America, it tells a simple tale of death and revenge. But there is so much more to it than that. It is not an 'action film', which some believe Mafia drama should be, but a superb character study in the lives of three brothers. One of them is bright, though ruthless, one insane and ruthless, and the third subscribes to Communist ideas but is equally ruthless. None is nice. Their wives suffer badly. But the 'story' is only the half of it. What is outstanding is how Ferrara builds a world out of nothing. This is low-budget stuff - the sound quality is at times a little dicky - but what that tells you is that you don't need big bucks to make great films. In fact, considering some of the dreck which is churned out on multi-million dollar budgets, there might even be a rule that the bigger the budget, the more likely the film will be a clunker. The Funeral is in the same stable of The Conversation: it misses popular acclaim by a country mile but that is because your average flick viewer wouldn't know class from an empty tub of popcorn. The Funeral is the real deal if you like films. But don't take my word for how good it is, watch it and see for yourself.

This was one DIFFERENT gangster picture, brought to you by Abel Ferarra. I first came to know the rather unique director from his infamous DRILLER KILLER... Which is really 90 minutes of my life I'd like to have back. It's the one DVD I own that I'd love to not own. The one DVD I don't even CONSIDER rewatching. And with good reason. It's a jackass of a film. I can't go into it any more without swearing, and then my review won't get put up. Anyway, years after watching that...movie, I began to wonder how Ferarra is so known among film fans. Nobody likes The Driller Killer, so that can't be it. I looked him up here, and saw that such noted actors as Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel have worked with him!! I was quite surprised and then I came across this one rather cheap. And I love gangster films so maybe I'm being a bit biased here.But this one was rather interesting. These aren't Scorsese style gangsters. They're guys in black suits but their life is much less glamarous. There is much rape and violence and little laughs or friendship. The film focuses on three brothers.. Christopher Walken is legendary in his role as wise but aging family head Ray. Chris Penn plays his rather temperamental (surprise surprise, it being Chris Penn) brother, and Vincent Gallo plays young foolish brother Johnny.The film opens with the recently deceased Johnny lying in his coffin and everyone gathered around crying. How did he get to be there? The film tells this through flashbacks which occur every few minutes throughout the film, and we also see a part from Ray's youth. Very skilfully done! The time switching happens without us noticing, the film flows so well that we're not in the least bit distracted.Christopher Walken is Christopher Walken in a Christopher Walken role, Ray... He's taking the Michael Corleone route here, the wise guy, the darker older brother who makes all the decisions for the family. And he's great at it... Chris Penn is Chris Penn in another Chris Penn role. He's completely insane. A brutal, angry man who loses it over nothing and spends his time on screen shouting and swearing at those around him. Chris Penn is really good at this, but I'd like to see him take on an emotional character... He's just doing Nice Guy Eddie over and over again. Vincent Gallo does the Freddie Corleone of the family well, but he's a bit unbelievable as a gangster and the camera has too many close ups on him. Also present in a supporting role is John Ventimiglia, who plays Artie Bucco from The Sopranos! Just thought I'd mention him, brilliant man. There's Benicio Del Toro as the rival gangster boss. He's pretty creepy but doesn't have a big enough part to do the character justice. Overall, the acting out of the two leads - Walken and Penn - is excellent. Typical, but excellent.Ferarra's been known to be violent and disturbing. Maybe if I'd watched this film a few years back it might have affected me, but it didn't in the least. I am now immune to offense by violence. Some of the film's violent highlights, though, include a stabbing in the heart with a butcher knife, shooting two innocent truck drivers with a shotgun, raping a teenage prostitute (who sold her soul) and an ending pistol massacre.Despite all this, however, it's an excellent if depressing picture, with many deep and dark performances. The violence is not over the top compared to the likes of De Palma or Scorsese, and it is not disturbing, or maybe that's just me.I will definitely be seeing more Ferarra movies!

Abel Ferrara ? Not a movie maker that will appeal to everyone . He`s best known for making DRILLER KILLER a movie far better than it`s given credit for and his only mainstream film is BODY SNATCHERS which is a rather unnecessary remake THE FUNERAL hints that it wants to be mainstream because everyone loves movies about gangsters don`t they ? , and there are a couple of well known actors in it too . Alas there`s an irritating aspect to the screenplay that wants to make certain characters leftists . Why do movies seem to be under the impression that gangsters have socialist ideals ? The British small budget production FACE had this as did the classic ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA . It`s often been said that the mafia are the most sucessful capitalist concept and I`m inclined to believe that There`s other audience unfriendly concepts to the movie , most of them being the fault of the director like graphic sex scenes , some serious violence especially at the downbeat conclusion , but the one scene that can`t fade from my mind is the scene where some of the male characters are watching a porn movie in a brothel . Young Johnny turns to the woman sitting beside him and they begin some serious french kissing . Did I mention this woman must be about 70 years old ? YUCK It`s hardly Ferrara`s best work and it`s probably recommended that potential audience members should familarise themselves with the director`s work before watching it Four out of ten