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Abel Ferrara's gangland mini-masterpiece, The Funeral, lacks the epic scope of The Godfather or GoodFellas, which makes video its perfect venue. Christopher Walken stars as a '30s New York mobster struggling to hold his family together following the murder of his youngest sibling (the convincingly cadaverous Vincent Gallo). As he proved in King of New York, Ferrara is the rare director who can keep Walken from going over the top, coaxing the actor's most subtly effective performance since At Close Range. Yet it's Chris Penn, as Walken's unbalanced brother, who owns the movie. Oscar overlooked Penn's startling work; don't make the same mistake at the video store. A-


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Posted May 16, 1997
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