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, 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, ailing mother, and loyal teenage brother. 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.