Palookaville

But what holds it is the working-class poetry of Derek Ahonen’s script, with the “broken down dreams” and a “gutter full of empty stomachs” of a hard-boiled era of soulful stiffs and dreamers going nowhere. It’s the speeded-up sound of a return trip to Palookaville.

Ram’s descent plays out against a backdrop of New York as Palookaville, full of free-floating hostility and natives who spout movie-bred clichés.