Someone Else's America Reviews

Only a Slav living in Paris -- like director Goran Paskajevic -- could imagine Brooklyn's Williamsburg section as the promised land, and the fact that his film was shot almost entirely on European soundstages goes a long way toward explaining how he clung to his misconception long enough to complete this aggressively heartwarming fairy tale about two immigrant losers. Middle-aged Spaniard Alonso (Glaswegian Tom Conti, made up within an inch of his life) lives with his haughty, blind mother (Maria Casares), who's pining for the village where she was born. Sad sack Bayo (Miki Manojlovic), a Balkan refugee with a pet rooster, finds work with him and soon friendship blossoms. It's all sweet enough to make your teeth ache, and it ends on a note of such determined whimsy that you'll want to go out and kick a kitten, preferably one with big sad eyes.