Little Odessa The Criterion Collection Blu-ray

A Dostoevskian family tragedy in the form of a gangster drama, the darkly elegant debut feature by James Gray heralded the arrival of a singular voice in contemporary American cinema. Cloaked in the shadows of New York’s underworld, Little Odessa follows Joshua (Tim Roth), a volatile hit man whose latest assignment takes him back to the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up. After his return home, his criminal life collides with the grim domestic world of his abusive father (Maximilian Schell), ailing mother (Vanessa Redgrave), and loyal teenage brother (Edward Furlong). Channeling the brooding fatalism of classic noir, Gray—who won the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion at just twenty-five—composes a haunting reflection on violence that begins at home and ripples ever outward.

• Audio commentary from 2000 featuring Gray
• Once Upon a Time . . . “Little Odessa,” a making-of documentary by David Thompson produced for French television
• New conversation between Gray and critic and podcaster Sean Fennessey
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Glenn Kenny