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Moriarty Has A Hellishly Good Time With BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD!
Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
Well, congratulations, Kelly Masterson. You have got to be feeling like you won some sort of screenwriter’s lottery right about now. And congratulations to Michael Cerenzie and Brian Linse and Paul Parmar. You guys just hit the ground running as producers, and you have a real opportunity here to build off of the momentum of this movie.
But the biggest congratulations on this one have to be reserved for Sidney Lumet, who already had at least six great films under his belt before I was even born, and who helped define the heights of the ‘70s on film with titles like NETWORK and DOG DAY AFTERNOON and SERPICO. Lumet’s 83 years old, and he’s already been given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award, so he could easily be forgiven if he never really knocked one out of the ballpark again. He’s a real filmmaker, though, one of those guys who still has the fire in his belly no matter how old he gets, no matter what accomplishments he’s already got to his name. He didn’t have to make BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD... but he did, and 2007’s already rich release schedule got a lot more interesting as a result.
On the surface, this is a simple genre exercise, a noir film that uses the slippery nature of a crime gone wrong as a way of dissecting a family. What makes this something more than just another crime film is the way Lumet disconnects us in time in order to underscore the tragedy of the events. So often in this post-Tarantino landscape, filmmakers use fractured timelines for simple effect, because it’s cool, or to make some ironic post-modern points. But Lumet uses it to make sure that each wound Masterson’s script inflicts does the most possible damage, so we understand just what’s at stake for this family and just how fucked they really are as things unfold. It’s devastating, and I think Lumet and Masterson deserve credit for never taking their feet off the gas as they drive these characters to hell as fast as they possibly can. It’s bleak, but it’s not unpleasant. Far from it, actually. There’s something almost intoxicating about watching a family meltdown this horrible.
Philip Seymour Hoffman. Ethan Hawke. Albert Finney. Marisa Tomei. Four actors who have all had their highs and lows on film. And this year, the four of them seem to have clicked with what Lumet was doing, and the result is that all of them turn in some of the finest work of their careers. Hawke’s one of those guys who can be great in the right role, and who can be a big bag of nothing when left to his own devices. Here, he plays a memorable loser, his pathetic desperation serving as the fuel that keeps this particular tragedy in motion. I think the reason I buy this one, the reason I feel like it rings true and doesn’t just play as “another crime film,” is because there aren’t any contrivances involved in the way things play out. You’re not asked to swallow some huge improbability in order to accept what you’re watching. Instead, the motivations that drive everyone’s actions are completely recognizable. The fear of disappointing one’s parents is a potent thing for many of us, and I love how both Hoffman and Hawke struggle with those same feelings of inadequacy, each of them sure that the other has the easier ride. It’s easy to see why they both feel that way as the film rolls on and we get a chance to see more and more of Finney in action. He’s a fascinating monster, and the failings of his sons are definitely failings that have their origins in his own behavior.
Much has been written about the frank sexual nature of Tomei’s work in the film, and the only thing I found really surprising about it is the timing. At 43, one might excuse her if she played down the sexuality instead of playing it up, but she makes 43 look very, very good. Her repeated nudity in the film is not just a way for an actress to get people talking, though. Instead, it’s part of what defines Gina, the character she’s playing. She uses sex to keep her husband (Hoffman) in line and she uses it to manipulate her husband’s brother (Hawke) as well. She counts on her appearance to be her bargaining chit, the thing that gets her what she wants. Gradually, though, we see the toll it takes on her, and if anyone in the film is really struggling with their personal moral compass, it’s her. Not Finney, though. Not even a little bit. He knows exactly how he defines right and wrong. The thing is, no one around him seems to understand just how Finney defines those ideas, so they aren’t prepared for the way he reacts when he is confronted with a wrong he can hardly comprehend, one that costs him dearly.
The best thing about this film is the way it takes its time setting up, allowing the eventual payoff to pack a bigger impact. I always find inevitability to be one of the key ingredients in tragedy, and this film is ripe with it. As soon as a few key choices are made by a few key players, there’s no way to escape the ending of the film. The awful, dark pleasure here is watching that inevitability play out, and Ron Fortunato’s rough-hewn photography and Carter Burwell’s simple score both perfectly compliment the script. Lumet shows as sure a hand now, as keen a sense of why people behave the way they do, as he did in 12 ANGRY MEN or DOG DAY AFTERNOON, and it’s nice to see that the spirit of those films is alive and well and playing right now at a theater near you.
Here’s hoping Lumet is still just warming up.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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hope i can still see, breath and at least shuffle around at 83!
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She was uber-hot when she was younger and the lady's still got it even now!
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the more Marissa Tomei we get the better for everyone!
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This is his best non-Coen work. Simply great. Brilliant film, Lumet firing on all cylinders. And Tomei - whoa! She is so gorgeous it's painful to watch.
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If there are people on this site who have never read Lumet's book "Making Movies," I implore you to check it out. It offers great insight into the filmmaking process. Great, great stuff.
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Nov 22, 2007 9:25:17 AM CST
This actually isn't the good movie critics are saying it is
by laserhead
Hawke's character can do nothing but tremble and stutter and burble; it's never credible that Tomei would be sleeping with him, or that his brother would entrust this 'heist' to him. Tomei, while beautiful, has no real character in the piece at all, just some fleshy parts. AND-- instead of the plot being a series of increasing escalations, with greater tension and inevitable, but unexpected twists; in the last 30 minutes the thing decides it wants to be Reservoir Dogs. Love lots of Lumet movies (just watched Prince of the City the other day), but I think Lumet's getting a lot of love for this based on his past works-- if a no-name director had put this out, it'd be seen as a crime movie whose VERY simple plot is needlessly convoluted by time switches, featuring one-note characters and a script that cuts corners for convenience; and they'd say it's come out about twelve years later than the fads its aping. Seriously, I've talked to other people who had the exact same take; like, 'That's it? You're kidding...'
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When I walked into a preview screening of this pic a few weeks ago, I expected (from the trailer) a film with about the emotional weight of say "Snatch" or "Lock Stock." When I left the theater that dreary Thursday night, however, I felt as though I'd been bludgeoned for the past two hours by a sledgehammer made out of pure emotion. I couldn't think properly and felt like I needed the stiffest drink known to the universe, but instead just decided to curl up into bed and call it a night. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was fantastic; it just took such a strong emotional toll on me that that's all this movie can be to me: a fucking sledgehammer.
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I was gripped and devastated. And Tomei boobies were just the icing on the cake.
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I preferred I'm Not There and No Country, but it's definitely right up there. (Review: http://www.ghostinthemachine.net/005031.html) And, Laser, I'd disagree - Tomei definitely has a character here. She's as manipulative with sex as Hoffman is with bullying and Hawke with wheedling. Note the scene where she comes alive in bed when she catches wind of a crime afoot. (They're talking about extradition.)
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But they're NICE, perky nipples.
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Nov 22, 2007 12:14:45 PM CST
Lumet did NOT do the flashbacks (Or: I didn't like this one too
by topaz4206
According to an interview with Todd McCarthy, Lumet said all of the flashbacks were in the script. And that is unfortunate, because I found that the flashbacks actually sucked all of the dramatic tension out of an otherwise interesting and time-sensitive central dilemma.The best thing about this film is Lumet, still in top form, and now shooting films in two-camera HiDef!
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What is wrong with you people? This film was a fucking exercise in boredom. It could not have felt any longer. The dialogue was AWWWWWFUL, the editing horrendous, there was no pacing to it whatsoever, and I would've walked out had the Landmark Theater not been so upscale and expensive. Marisa Tomei was relegated to the "angry bitch woman" character. P.S. Hoffman couldn't give a bad performance if he tried. But this movie is truly truly awful. "Find Me Guilty" was a better return to form than this.
Oh and why the fuck did this movie have to be shot in such poor quality video? It's really obvious. -
Yeah, she's a vicious evil sex cunt. Wow, what a unique and novel and empowering characterization for a woman to play.
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I didn't know Lumet was suppose to advance the feminist cause in every film. At any rate, Tomei's character is just as loopy, fallible, and damaged as the brothers, and I thought she conveyed this pretty well in her limited screen time.
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And I'm a pretty big fan of Lumet in general (sometimes a really big fan), I do think critics may be over-hyping just a tad. Perhaps is because they completely ignored "Find Me Guilty." Who knows?Still worth seeing. I think this review should have been posted before the DVD release, rather than now. It's already come and gone from theaters (at least here in New York).
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It's still playing at all the arthouses here in NYC. The Angelika and Lincoln Plaza to name just two. Yeah, xiphos, I didn't miss the boobies. Not for a second.
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Marisa Tomer's boobies. George Costanza would be proud
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Way to completely miss the point, like so many others.
To ask for female characters to be shown as human in cinema is not "advancing the feminist cause." To show them as intellectually capable, and just as rational or irrational as the men they're (invariably) surrounded with is not the same as taking to the streets and marching for free abortions and lollipops. You don't have to be a feminist to make a female character. But if given the chance, you also don't have to be a douchebag and make women subservient, sex-crazed subhumans in your film. Sidney Lumet's made some AMAZING roles for women over his bajillion-year career - like in NETWORK, one of my favorite films ever. This was not one of those, and it really hurt the movie. It was clearly a conscious choice to have Marisa Tomei and Hawke's accomplice's girlfriend be the only women in this movie - and they are whiney, self-absorbed, sex-crazed, and dumb. The men's characters are very, very human - not just evil, not just good, and not necessarily brilliant. But they react to their situation in a human way. Marisa Tomei's character is a whiney succubus and nothing more. She doesn't react to things like a human would. She isn't shown thinking or feeling. Now, that may be partly an aspect of her performance (I don't think she's a particularly good actress unless it's My Cousin Vinny) and partly an aspect of directing, but I found that the only thing more annoying than her character was the fucking heel-clacking she kept doing on the floor of their apartment.
The movie should've been two hours of P.S. Hoffman shooting people through a pillow and crying, and Marisa Tomei showing up to show off her boobs and say pithy shit to Hoffman. No more Ethan Hawke stumbling around trying to find a performance. -
"Whiny," not "whiney." What the fuck? This is what happens in America when Thanksgiving becomes a 3-day Gauntlet of Booze.
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I figured since it's been out for over a month, that it had come and gone. But yeah, I guess it's still at BAM too.
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I'm totally with you on the edit function. Allowing html would be nice and, y'know, 21st century to boot. As for Tomei, I don't think I "completely missed the point." Where we seem to disagree is I don't think Tomei's character was a "subservient, sex-crazed subhuman" -- I found her exactly as independent, intellectually capable, irrational, self-centered, and awful (heel-clacking and all) as the two brothers in the film. If sex is her tool of manipulation (as Hoffman's is bullying and Hawke's is wheedling), well, that's the character. My point was Lumet is under no obligation to pretty her up to create an "empowering" figure -- to do so would be more insulting than to fashion the character as written. Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the only two women in the movie thing. Did you miss Amy Ryan as Ethan Hawke's ex-wife (or his daughter, for that matter)? How about Rosemary Harris as the brothers' mom? Or how about the religious sister, who has about as much screen time as the accomplice's girlfriend? True, everyone (except for saintly Aunt May) comes off pretty flawed and unlikable in their own way, but that was half the point of the movie. We obviously disagree on this, but I found Before the Devil no unkinder to its female characters than it was to its male ones -- To wit, it wasn't kind to any of 'em at all.
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I'm totally with you on NETWORK. Amazing flick.
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Using the right word is important in writing.
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Nov 22, 2007 10:15:57 PM CST
I'd like to congratulate Marisa Tomei for getting naked and laid
by mrmysteryguest
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There's an old review of the script on filmjerk where James Gandolfini was Ethan Hawke's character and Dermot Mulroney had Philip Seymore Hoffman's role. I can't picture that at all. (http://www.filmjerk.com/reviews/article.php?id_rev=118)
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I wonder just when was this made because i know i saw it quite a while ago
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...so getting both in the same film is just a bonus.
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OK, I'll start:I graduated college, I'm 6'1 170 lbs., I'd love to date an Asian girl but there are nothing but Mexicans in L.A., I'd gladly pay a hooker to let me pleasure myself onto her posterior but she'd better not touch me with those scabie'd hands, and Marisa's tits, ass, legs, abdomen and face look fucking INSANELY hot in this movie.
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AnimalStructure: I'm past my teens by a decade, but I leaned over to my friend tonight in the middle of the movie and said: Marisa Tomei should get an award for this. "Her boobs?" my friend said. "Yep."
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...is because the movie was so throughly average. Interesting, entertaining, a few great scenes of acting, but could have done without the flashbacks and told it linearly (no big reveals or reasons for the flashback, despite what Moriarty says, and it actually LESSENS the tension to see things repeated again and again.) But really just a pleasant, completely average movie.The reason everyone istalking about Marisa is cause her boobs and her getting slammed doggy style is the best thing about the movie.
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