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Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet, 2007)
Master director Lumet (currently 83 years old) makes a modern version of a Greek tragedy, involving an NYC family where everyone wishes they had done things completely differently from the way they did. Although the acting is very good, the story veers far too close to self parody for me. I believe the chief culprit is the actual script, which begins with a solid premise but proceeds to extend it so far to the nth degree that you almost can believe that you are watching a spoof. The problem is that this film is almost completely humorless.
Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, playing respectively, the stronger, older brother, and the younger, weaker one, are believable within character, even if I eventually decided they were just pawns of the script. Marisa Tomei gives one of her best performances and is still damn sexy. I even enjoyed Albert Finney, even when he seemed to go into zombie mode, but I guess that is the film's point. I don't really want to get into the plot, but needless to say, it involves a crime which goes horribly wrong and turns a dysfunctional family into a much worse one.
Lumet can still shoot a film interestingly, even when his technique seems almost invisible. He has a way of knowing how to move the camera or time an edit, and he shows no signs that his director's eye is going feeble, but I have to feel that, even though he is a super bright and obsessed filmmaker, that he let his love for a questionable script blind him to most of its flaws. Lumet does present the film in a fractured, Quentin Tarantinoish style, and although it enables some of the surprises to be delayed, I'm not sure that it actually improves the narrative. No matter what I think though, this is a solid acting showcase. It's just too bad that some of the more extreme elements couldn't have been toned down or that the film didn't have a modicum of wit. I suppose that would have gone against Lumet's operatic intention to shoot for the moon, but this film is a critic's darling, so I'm probably the one who screwed the pooch. Anyway, I much prefer Michael Cacoyannis' Iphigenia when it comes to Greek tragedy.
I will come back if I change my mind on a second viewing.
Master director Lumet (currently 83 years old) makes a modern version of a Greek tragedy, involving an NYC family where everyone wishes they had done things completely differently from the way they did. Although the acting is very good, the story veers far too close to self parody for me. I believe the chief culprit is the actual script, which begins with a solid premise but proceeds to extend it so far to the nth degree that you almost can believe that you are watching a spoof. The problem is that this film is almost completely humorless.
Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, playing respectively, the stronger, older brother, and the younger, weaker one, are believable within character, even if I eventually decided they were just pawns of the script. Marisa Tomei gives one of her best performances and is still damn sexy. I even enjoyed Albert Finney, even when he seemed to go into zombie mode, but I guess that is the film's point. I don't really want to get into the plot, but needless to say, it involves a crime which goes horribly wrong and turns a dysfunctional family into a much worse one.
Lumet can still shoot a film interestingly, even when his technique seems almost invisible. He has a way of knowing how to move the camera or time an edit, and he shows no signs that his director's eye is going feeble, but I have to feel that, even though he is a super bright and obsessed filmmaker, that he let his love for a questionable script blind him to most of its flaws. Lumet does present the film in a fractured, Quentin Tarantinoish style, and although it enables some of the surprises to be delayed, I'm not sure that it actually improves the narrative. No matter what I think though, this is a solid acting showcase. It's just too bad that some of the more extreme elements couldn't have been toned down or that the film didn't have a modicum of wit. I suppose that would have gone against Lumet's operatic intention to shoot for the moon, but this film is a critic's darling, so I'm probably the one who screwed the pooch. Anyway, I much prefer Michael Cacoyannis' Iphigenia when it comes to Greek tragedy.
I will come back if I change my mind on a second viewing.