Picture

I think the movie is meant to give general impressions, without making too many points. This means that somewhat loose characters and plot are just what they are. I say characters and interactions are not meaningfully reducible because this is not The Irishman, where you have plenty of time to analyze. Mean Streets is a completely different world.

Having said that, I can see it as a comment on the misuse of religion, and the obvious character development is: “queen getting balls”. But then, the next idea is that Charlie’s downfall was deterministic. So, there are layers I missed that created rewatch value and a kind of play-of-shadows dynamic.

Aside

My favorite posts start with having no clear idea and end with having the movie solved in specifics. I hope that “System Two” thinking gets “gratified” in this still.