You Never Lost Your Lustre

It seemed that every where I turned I saw Victor Argo. Every film that had that New York feel to it, he was in. I don't mean the glossed-out, dream factory version of "New Yawk". I mean the sweltering dog days of summer New York. The bitter black ice days of winter New York. The before and after that beautiful but life altering day in September New York. The subway during the morning rush. The borough streets at the midnight hour. Woody's New York. Marty's New York. Spike's New York. Jim's New York. Abel's New York. He was a staple of the film scene here and he knew it. "I am New York!!" is what he announced like a battle cry to an audience who just saw the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival screening of the Art Jones film, Lustre. I attended that screening and saw what seemed to be a fitting tribute to not only one of the great character actors but to a city still healing itself. Victor Argo passed away not to long after that screening. How fitting for a regular guy from the Bronx to finally get that lead role he so deserved as a final curtain call.

Lustre opens today in Manhattan.

The New York Times does a review of the film.