DVD REVIEW: BROKEN (2007)

I left BROKEN off my list of new DVD releases for this week. I really wasn't expecting anything from it. But, I got it from Netflix and ended up watching it tonight.

I should have listed it as it is one of the more interesting films being released this week.

Storywise, it isn't all that original. Girl (Heather Graham) goes to L.A. to become a singer. She meets a guy (Jeremy Sisto). He is a drug addict and gets her hooked.

The structure is what makes it work.

The film is set up in flashbacks, as she is working as a waitress in a restaurant, after having broken up with Sisto. The set up works really well, with all the customers representing parts of her past.

The real reason that I am recommending the film is the performance of Heather Graham. She is excellent in this. If this had gotten a proper theatrical release, I'm sure it would do something to help her career.

Well photographed (there are a few shots here that had me wanting to rewind and just watch them again), with a soundtrack of Brian Jonestown Massacre songs, the film isn't perfect. There was one sequence toward the end where I think the filmmakers believed the film was too advanced for the audiences, and then over explained what had been going on to the detriment of the film as a whole.

That said, Graham's performance is what is really important here. It is one of her best.

With all the forgettable films that get big releases, this is one that deserved a better release than it got.

3 stars out of 5