Black Flies
Young paramedic Ollie Cross is partnered with experienced medic Rutkovsky, who thrusts him into the harsh realities of New York’s inner-city streets. Amidst high crime rates, homelessness, and widespread drug use, Ollie finds his perspective on life and death beginning to shift.
- Released:
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Thrillers
- Stars: Tye Sheridan, Katherine Waterston, Kali Reis, Onie Maceo Watlington, Raquel Nave, Mike Tyson, Michael Pitt, Sean Penn, Alisa Mironova, Robert Oppel, Donna Glaesener, Decater James, Charrisse Matthews, Kareemeh Odeh
- Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
Comments
- refinedsugar - 15 May 2024
Grim. Bleak. Darkness. Sadness. Light.
'Asphalt City' aka 'Black Flies' has a point to make and goes the extra mile to drive it home. Casual moviegoers who want light, something uplifting are in the wrong place. Though you're not wrong to question if it's too heavy or removed from reality at times. It seems appropriate they set the tale in NYC as it was once the haven for hard boiled action flicks, horror nasties that liked to play up it's once seamy nature. As one who never sat thru the Nic Cage pic 'Bringing Out the Dead', I thought the ride here thru the ups and downs of a paramedic was unique if not scattershot.
Cross (Tye Sheridan) a newbie NYC paramedic gets a crash course in death, sadness and the futility of helping the public. Who sometimes distrust, loath, don't appreciate or abuse people in civil service frontline jobs. Mainly stuck to the nightshift, he lives in a rundown apartment with strangers and studies to become a doctor. Soon enough his world mentally starts to unravel and an incident with his veteran partner 'Rut' (Sean Penn) is either a really bad mistake or something much worse. A wakeup call to not go down the wrong path, circling the drain.
The story is mainly a collection of emergency calls of various states of panic, distress and the learning curve that goes along with it. The film is purposely dark and you see the correlations between the mens journeys at certain points. Michael Pitt & Gbenga Akinnagbe play fellow paramedics and in a bit of stunt casting Mike Tyson their immediate supervisor. Really the strength here is two leads - Sheridan, Penn - willing to throw themselves into their roles and what is has to say about the toll paid on people doing this for a living.
'Asphalt City' left me wondering a lot about paramedics. What they get paid, the worst of what they see and ultimately why they do it. Having it all go down in the city that never sleeps as opposed to small town USA wasn't lost on me. I knew the effect they were going for here at all times. Only in the last quarter of it's two hour runtime did I wish for a more fleshed out story, sanctuary from it's dark nature. It's not a home run, but it's also not bad like some people are making it out to be. - jsblack-23188 - 28 April 2024
The worst movie EVER
This has to be the worst movie I have ever watched. What's up with the fur burger scene? It was pointless with absolutely no storyline. I wanted to poke my eyes out. I am going to have PTSD for the rest of my life.....,,,,,,.
If I could save anyone who thinks this looks good from the 2 hour nightmare you will have to force yourself to see, I would say PLEASE DONT WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS TIME on this flop of a movie. Unless of course you want to see two white adults running around naked and holding a baby. What in the actual heck does that have to do with the life of medical driver? If that's what goes on in their mind.. please let me die on scene.......
