Imaginary Crimes (1994)

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely Fantastic

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I really enjoyed watching this film because this film shows you what it is like for someone like Harvey Keitel to live and be involved in raising his two daughters after his wife recently passed away. I cried at the end where you see that he could have easily ran away; however, he decides to come back and serve time all because he did not want to miss his daughter's graduation. This shows that he might have been a dishonest person; however, in the end he showed his daughters how much they really meant to him and that he would do anything for them.It saddens you when you learn of his death because you really wish that he would be there to see his daughters and to continue being a wonderful family that they once were.

Imaginary Crimes features one of the world's best "unknown" actresses Fairuza Balk (Personal Velocity, Almost Famous, The Craft, American History X) and the immensely talented Harvey Keitel. Keitel plays a recently widowed hustler/con man who is left trying to raise his two daughters, teenager Balk and her 12 year old sister. He doesn't have a clue about raising kids. Worse, he has to hide his shady business dealings from them.Balk is a natural born writer, who is befriended by her English teacher (Vincent D'Onofrio). He provides the supportive father figure that Keitel cannot. Imaginary Crimes is a coming of age story. It's a small, quiet film, but very effective. The acting is superb and Balk more than holds her own with the great Keitel. Highly recommended for the outstanding performances of Balk, Keitel and D'Onofrio. Balk is one of my favorite actresses.

Follows the story of widowed father Ray Weiler (Harvey Kietel) trying to make it as a con artist in the 1950's. The story is told from the point of view of his daughter Sonya (Fairuza Balk) as she tries to struggle through her unenviable life while protecting her younger sister Greta (Elizabeth Moss) from their harsh environment. There's also the mandatory appearance by Vincent D'Onofrio, playing Sonya's English teacher who's actually more of a father to her than Ray ever was.Balk and Kietel are great in this. Kietel did the slimy, overbearing father role better than I thought he would. Balk was also very good as his disillusioned daughter; they had good dad-kid chemistry, in a disfunctional sort of way. I thought the script and story were great, too. It was very real, like it could have been based on someone's memoirs. Balk's monologue right before the credits role is the perfect ending for this sort of story. A film worth renting.

I had low expectations when I decided to check this film out. Emotional dramas are normally not my kind of film. But it did not take very long before I was "tuned in". Keitel manages to make the character both disgusting and loving in a great way. Despite the pathetic cons he manages to show Ray's love and caring for his children. The film is also helped by overall tremendous acting, especially by the Sonja-character. The flashbacks are tastefully divided into small parts, which help the "suspense" to last during the whole film. In my opinion, Keitel's acting is almost as good as his part in BAD LIEUTENANT, which is absolutely stunning. It is actually a rather standard plot, not very far from DEATH OF A SALESMAN. But as mentioned before, good acting gives it a 'feelgood'...er...feel. 8/10