Falling Awake

Bringing a Latino spin to Scorsese’s mean-streets formula, Falling Awake focuses less on mob favors than on the destructive cycle of violence. All teenage Jay (Cisneros) wants is to play guitar in Washington Square Park—that and date Alessandra (Dewan), who strolls by daily. But back home in the Bronx, Dad’s going broke and his friends are clashing nightly with gangs of Harlem boys. Playing smarter and smoother than the plot, Cisneros uncorks an antimacho performance that deviates from type. His unconventional hero is worthy of a more original treatment.