Unfortunately, Sciorra, Pardue, and Leigh Cook would have been better served to make an adult film. I feel especially bad for Sciorra. If you happen to be reading this and you are a lovely, intelligent Italo-American female considering a move at professional acting in the film and television industry, be glad that you're spared the quandary of the Sporano's audition -that type of career suicide ended with episode 20, season 7. You might still end up in the same career place as Drea DeMateo and Annabella Sciorra, pretending not hear the cell phone blasting off in your pocket (which was never cut out of the shoot) as you blow an episode of Apeture on the Voom HD channel (the former) or "filming" an entirely unoriginal quasi experimental piece of video like American Crime in the hills of LA (Sciorra, the later). But hey, nevertheless at least you ARE working, right? There are a few vaguely interesting shots here and there, but, assuming you are not an aspiring director of softcore, American Crime, beyond the opening credits, is not an effort the average consumer of art films is interested in consuming. Also, don't expect your kids to watch this picture without putting themselves at risk for developing a lofty idea about making a bad and unnecessary movie with the prosumer video equipment you bought to tape their after-school soccer games.
If you're interested in how video can achieve successful images in a feature length film check out: Sex Lies and Video Tape, Able Ferrara's, The New Rose Motel and Dangerous Game, Wayne Wang's, The Center of the World, (the lead in which is brilliantly played by the venerable Peter Sarsgaard and is shot entirely in video, before it was blown up to 35mm), Tesis, and Lance Weiler's, The Last Broadcast (this film plays and looks great, and I don't think it was ever transfered to a film print at all). In any one of those movies, you'll discover all the ideas you find in American Crime only better executed with more adequate visuals and sounds.
If you're interested in how video can achieve successful images in a feature length film check out: Sex Lies and Video Tape, Able Ferrara's, The New Rose Motel and Dangerous Game, Wayne Wang's, The Center of the World, (the lead in which is brilliantly played by the venerable Peter Sarsgaard and is shot entirely in video, before it was blown up to 35mm), Tesis, and Lance Weiler's, The Last Broadcast (this film plays and looks great, and I don't think it was ever transfered to a film print at all). In any one of those movies, you'll discover all the ideas you find in American Crime only better executed with more adequate visuals and sounds.