Fresh Kills: Where to Watch Jennifer Esposito's Criminal Drama With 94% on RT?

Fresh Kills: Where to Watch Jennifer Esposito's Criminal Drama With 94% on RT?
Image credit: Quiver Distribution

It's a movie about the mafia like you've never seen it before.

Every year more and more actors and actresses appear in the world of cinema who, after many years of experience on the set, decide to take the helm of film production and sit in the director's chair.

For her directorial debut, actress Jennifer Esposito chose a difficult story about the Mafia, focusing on those who often live in the shadows – the women of the crime family.

Esposito also acted as a screenwriter – the idea for the movie came to her many years ago when she was a 16-year-old student living on Staten Island.

What is Fresh Kills About?

The story of Fresh Kills takes place in New York at the end of the 20th century. Mother Francine (Jennifer Esposito) and her two daughters, Connie (Odessa A'zion) and Rose (Emily Bader), face unexpected circumstances that force them to learn to stand up for themselves if they want to survive in the world of organized crime.

At first glance, each character seems to live by their own rules, but gradually it becomes clear that they are all united by a common goal. It is this unity that makes them so strong and so dangerous to others. Members of rival gangs find themselves in the crosshairs of professional killers.

Fresh Kills is a Female Crime Drama that Comes From a Very Different Point of View

Most often the main characters in crime dramas are men, and the main topic is the story of the rise to the criminal highest ranks. Women in this world are given a secondary place, mostly they are faithful and quiet wives, but it is difficult to remember a movie whose goal would be to study the female world of the criminal environment: their feelings, desires and aspirations.

Of course, there are projects that show the viewer how exactly a woman becomes the head of a criminal group and her life path, but in Fresh Kills the story is considered from a different angle. It reflects on the fact that a person does not choose their parents, and girls born into a gangster family might have chosen a completely different path for themselves.

Fresh Kills is about the fact that the opportunity to choose is more important to someone than luxury and money, and about the fact that the moral guidelines of children do not always coincide with those of their parents. And it is especially difficult for girls, who usually do not even have the right to vote in a criminal family.

Where to Stream Fresh Kills?

Fresh Kills premiered in New York in June 2023 at the Tribeca International Film Festival.

The film is now available to buy or rent on Prime Video and Apple TV.