It's Just Movies

— by ROBERT DeFEIS —

“Looking for Palladin” follows Josh Ross (David Moscow), an arrogant Hollywood talent agent who is sent to Guatemala to lure Jack Palladin (Ben Gazzara), an old Hollywood star, out of retirement.

Even though Josh and Jack have never met, Josh has quite a hard time emotionally as Jack was once married to Josh’s late mother. Instead of his trip being quick, it turns out to be a soul-searching journey for Josh as the retired star and his estranged stepson must confront the past they had forsaken.

For me, it sounds a little on the boring side, but in no way is there terrible acting from what I saw in the clips. It looks to be a very interesting concept as it may well be a very motivating and fascinating film.

Gazzara has been in countless films and has also been nominated and won some outstanding awards. It is great to see him in such a powerful role. Hopefully, this movie will prove a high point for both his and Moscow’s careers.

This first clip shows us the frustration Josh has about not knowing much about his mother. He tries defending her against Rosarioa (Talia Shire) as she badmouths her.

In this one, Arnie (Vincent Pastore) tries to figure out if there is a problem with Jack. I don’t know if there really was one but it looks like Jack tries to play it off.

The third focuses on how Josh’s mother died as Jack tells him the heartfelt and sad story. This scene to me was the most real and sincere out of all of them. If the whole film can pull this off it should be pretty decent.

In the fourth, we find out precisely why Josh is there. Josh ends up offering Jack $1 million for just a cameo (now who wouldn’t want that?), but Jack still wants to read the script as he has a hard time deciding.

The fifth shows us Josh going out looking for Jack Palladin as Jack sits behind him.

“Looking for Palladin” is written and directed by Andrzej Krakowski and has a limited release around the U.S. Also, it will be shown Nov. 6 at the Queens International Film Festival.

Follow It’s Just Movies on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ItsJustMovies.