"The Saint of Avenue B" contrasts the lure of materialism and the power of spirituality against the backdrop of black middle class life to ask the timeless question: "What is success?" Paula, an accomplished professional, is celebrating yet another achievement surrounded by her well-to-do friends and her adoring husband. Paula's mister is played by Andre Royo of HBO's "The Wire," who steps out of his gritty role of Bubbles to become a wisecracking but caring (and equally successful) mate. At the peak of the party, a mysterious stranger offers Paula a gift that sparks a life-altering transformation in her --- and soon Paula is speaking in a language no one else in her life understands.
Writer/director Rene Alberta plays Paula, largely dramatizing her metamorphosis through vivid body language and intriguing imagery. As strangers flock to the couple's Avenue B apartment building to worship at Paula's feet and she spins further out, the power of both love and faith is seriously called into question.
With its innovative visual interplay of fame, love, money and faith, "The Saint of Avenue B" is a new breed New York story.
I saw this hot number at the 2006 Hamptons International Film Festival!
