Sidney Lumet is 83 years old. The last film he made that I love without reservations was made in 1975.* How the hell is Before the Devil Knows You're Dead watchable, let alone one of my favorite films of the year? BTDKYD is a classic heist-gone-wrong film where two brothers plan to rob their parents' jewelry store in order to solve their financial problems. The robbery takes place near the beginning of the film and we flash back to the motivations and decisions behind the 4 main characters' actions. All of this is pretty common for heist films, what is uncommon is how deep we get into these characters. In this film the characters are the story, rather than pawns for the plot. This heightens the stakes when we see things inevitably spiral out of control.
Albert Finney, Ethan Hawke, and Marissa Tomei [mostly topless for the first 1/3 of the film] are all fantastic, but this is definitely the Phillip Seymour Hoffman show. He looks almost amphibian, like a red-faced frog manipulating the events closing in on him. It's an amazing performance in that we can still relate to him and the decisions he makes, even though his character is so offensive. Also Michael Shannon [who was so fantastic in Bug] threatens to steal the movie in two short scenes. He manages to exude the calmness and control that truly dangerous people possess. The only real fault I have with the film is the jarring way the flashbacks are introduced, cutting back and forth between still frames, but it does get your attention. It's also a relentlessly bleak film, but I don't really have a problem with that. Now I have to track down some of Lumet's recent work to see if it matches the quality of this film.
*Many people would choose Network over Dog Day Afternoon, but I have problems with it. Also I haven't seen The Verdict yet
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
well, according to the user ratings on IMDb, lumet's top three movies are as follows:
1) 12 angry men (my favorite of his movies, I think, but I haven't seen very many of the others) 8.8/10
2) dog day afternoon (people agree with you) 8.1/10
3) before the devil knows you're dead 8.05/10
source: imdb filmography, sorted by rating
however, newer films tend to get higher ratings at first as the people who are likely to enjoy the movie usually see it early on. the rating may go down a little as more people see it and vote on it., but probably not too much. I don't foresee this movie having the fanboy syndrome where a bunch of people jack p the rating really early on and then it plummets later on. this seems more like a movie that will be relatively stable.
12 Angry Men has tremendous performances, especially Lee J. Cobb [what film is he not good in?] but it's awfully stagey. I feel like I should watch Network again. I've seen it a couple of times and love the acting, but the script seems to have aged poorly. Network is Paddy Chayefsky's most famous script, but I prefer The Hospital and The Americanization of Emily at this point. I should probably revisit it, but who has the time? I kind of want to see Find Me Guilty, but it stars Vin Diesel and I'm not sure I'm ready for that.
Chris Sarandon was effing great in Dog Day Afternoon. Great film.
Post a Comment