Where God Left His Shoes is a 2007 drama

Dramatic

Dramatic may refer to:* Drama, a literary form involving parts for actors* Dramatic, a voice type classification in European classical music, describing a specific vocal weight and range at the lower end of a given voice part...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 written and directed by Salvatore Stabile and starring John Leguizamo

John Leguizamo

Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...

, Leonor Varela

Leonor Varela

Leonor Varela Palma is a Chilean actress, and model. She played the character Cleopatra in the 1999 film Cleopatra...

, Samantha Rose, Jerry Ferrara

Jerry Ferrara

Jerry Ferrara is an American actor best known for his work as "Turtle" aka Sal on the HBO comedy series Entourage.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Ferrara attended New Utrecht High School. Ferrara is of Italian descent....

, and Adriane Lenox

Adriane Lenox

Adriane Lenox is an American stage and film actress whose performance in the play Doubt: A Parable garnered her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2005. She also appeared as Hattie in the Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate and had a role in the 2009 film The Blind Side, as Denise...

. It was first distributed through a limited release by IFC Films

IFC Films

IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....

 on 12 December 2008

2008 in film

This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...

. The title of the movie is an old Italian saying that Stabile's father used to say about good places.

Synopsis

Frank Diaz (John Leguizamo), an unemployed boxer, and his family have been living in a homeless shelter for months when, finally, on Christmas Eve, comes word that an apartment may be available. However seeing that he doesn't hold a job on paper the social worker tells him its not possible for him to get the apartment. Frank at his ends tells a story about his time in the army during the first Gulf War. This story causes the social worker to give Frank a chance to get the apartment. The catch is that Frank must have a job before the end of the day. So Frank hits the cold streets of New York, his resentful stepson (David Castro) in tow, to somehow find a job so that his family can have a real home for Christmas morning. They search all over town in hopes of a job. In their search they grow closer together while also learning secrets about each other. On his first stop in search for a job he goes to a construction contractor he's worked for 'off the books' but is denied a booked job. Throughout the movie you see the old man (construction contractor's father) looking for Frank Diaz to give him a letter. In the end after ups and downs in his journey to find a job, the family of four ride the subway to a fate unknown. Music plays out as the fate of Frank and his family remain unknown to us. Yet his loss of the apartment stills gives a glib outcome for a family hit hard of poverty.

Reception

Lisa Schwartzbaum of Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

described the film as "Italian neorealism meets A Christmas Carol." Nick Pinkerton of the Village Voice writes that Stabile "gets interesting scenes [...] though the movie's vérité is diluted by a cozy, adult-contemporary empathy with those less fortunate."

External links

• Official site
• Where God Left His Shoes at Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
  
  

External links

• Official site
• Where God Left His Shoes at Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...