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Mike Newell, the director of the greatest Harry Potter installment, directed this great, a little on the short, gangster-drama, or grama, movie. Al Pacino has done many memorable roles in his extensive career but none has been more funny or more sympathic than the animals-obsessed Lefty in this movie. Working alongside with Johnny Depp (Joseph Pistone a.k.a Donnie Brasco) & Michael Madsen (Sonny Black), It was clear that Al Pacino was the only one who knew his stuff and therefore, played his part flawlessly.
Unlike the other gangster/crime-drama movies like Goodfellas, Scarface or The Godfather Trilogy, this film is not shown in a gritty, nitty, dark or violent way. In fact, It's shown in a colourful, moving manner which really brings you in the underworld and you really learn alot. For example, the difference between "he is a friend of mine" & "he is a friend of ours". While most gangster movies start from as it is, Donnie Brasco literally starts from scratch with Al Pacino & Michael Madsen being the teachers while Johnny Depp and us, the audience, being the students! Even though the pairing of Depp & Pacino was a little shaky, it was truly engaging and Michael Madsen, forever the tough-ass baddie, has one of his best movie roles after Mr. Blonde.
In conclusion, this is an engaging movie with a great storyline and hardly any gore with one of the greatest performances by Al Pacino and just like his other movie, Dog Day Afternoon, is one of the realistic films I've seen. Watch this only after you have seen the above mentioned gangster movies, as this one is so unique.
