The Diva Boys are back! Here’s their latest review on the new indie feature Blue Collar Boys.

What an experience we had in North Hollywood at the Laemmle Noho to catch a special press screening of Blue Collar Boys, an independent film written and directed by Mark Nistico — a film which has garnered quite some buzz, winning film festivals in Toronto and Hoboken, N.J. in the last few years.

What can I say? This picture truly moved us. The story is described as the story of Charlie Redkin, a 27-year-old construction worker set on self-improvement as he struggles to provide for his family during the current recession. Desperate, Red’s friends, “the boys,” pursue illegal opportunities in order to make money fast.We were quite impressed with the professional production quality and the realism of the story. It is a very basic theme in some ways, in ways that most middle class Americans in Anywhere, USA (in this film, it’s somewhere in N.J.) can identify: the idea of survival. This is a story where the privileged few make some money exploiting the local hard working “blue collar” scene (which being based on true events truly tugged at our heartstrings).

Blue Collar Boys is very Sopranos. There’s an ominous grey tone over the entire film, which portrayed a dismal outlook. We were uneasy the whole time as silent spectators witnessing the lives of this ordinary hardworking and hardly making ends meet family. In particular, there is a great scene where Mom, Dad, sons and daughter are all fighting in the kitchen about the all too familiar themes us middle class Americans know all about: working hard for someone else on top of having to undercut your own family just to get paid. In this hard economy, the working class becomes prisoner to the rich who provide the jobs that put the construction managers’ food (and drinks and drugs and ….) on the table.

We don’t want to reveal any plot twists or turns, but let’s just say this is a sick flick about revenge and what motivates it. There are great performances across the board by all the characters, from the slumlord developer and his sleazebag son to the rag tag team of punks who work/play hard (on the books and off) and can’t seem to rise above their circumstance. It’s like their destiny to fail and keep on trying to make good, but not quite delivering.

From the jarring, electric, pumping soundtrack to the cinematography (loved the symbolic “color drain” effect as things take a turn for the worst for our anti-hero, Red (adeptly played with angst and torture by Gabe Fazio), Blue Collar Boys moved us to think twice about how lucky some of us are, and how hard the working class work for their money and the apparent disregard for all their hard work. How that entitlement can create serious tensions make us all think twice about not paying our service providers for services rendered!

Great job Mark! We’re ready to see this on HBO or on the silver screen!

The Diva Boys,
Chris & Destin

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