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A Favorite Movie

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead..... 


This is a story where people don't speak very clearly to one another.


Andy wants to escape his life, and he might succeed with a bit more money. He convinces his rather dim-witted brother Hank (also financially troubled) to rob the family business.


"It's like we're robbing a Mom and Pop store, but we're literally robbing Mom....and Pop...."


Andy doesn't tell Hank to keep other people out of this, and I believe he doesn't remember to say NO GUNS. Hank--scared--hires a colleague, who does use a gun. Meanwhile, there's a certain workers' schedule at the family shop--a dull anonymous lady is meant to be on duty--but the schedule has evaporated. Mom is taking the reins.


One shot is fired; a second shot is fired. Two corpses--within seconds.


What follows is chaos. We know that Hank and Andy don't like their father very much; this resentment might be the real reason for the robbery. The father--Albert Finney--will prove to us, by the end, how little he deserves our trust. As in a Greek tragedy, this story will serve up yet more dead bodies before the final curtain.


I love the movie because it has "a deep bench." Look at this list: Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar winner Marisa Tomei, Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke, Oscar nominee Albert Finney, Oscar nominee Rosemary Harris, Oscar nominee Michael Shannon, Oscar nominee Amy Ryan, Tony winner Brian O'Byrne. Also, although this isn't often ranked among the iconic Hoffman performances, Hoffman is so tortured and so compelling, scene after scene.


(Have you considered this guy's career recently? He was dead before fifty, but he still made "The Savages," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "A Late Quartet," "Capote," "Punch-Drunk Love," "MI III," "Doubt," "The Master," "Happiness," "Moneyball," "Almost Famous," "Talented Mr. Ripley," "25th Hour," and so many others. On the stage, he was drawn to family dramas: "Long Day's Journey," "Death of a Salesman." So it's no surprise he would like the idea for "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.")


So: Watch for Hoffman. And for the uncomfortable music. And for the twisty script.


P.S. God is in the details, and I love how crazy mini-problems keep intruding. Ethan Hawke witnesses a murder, in a rental car. The rental people later call. "You left something on the seat." Could there be blood on a mixtape? Hawke can't find out, because the correct worker isn't on duty at a given time, and someone imperious is on a phone call, and also what constitutes proper ID? After participating in a homicide, a driver can't pull away because NYC traffic has boxed him into a tiny portion of a side street. And Marisa Tomei wants to blow up various domestic/emotional bridges....but she can't.....because she doesn't have cab fare.....


P.P.S. I'm also fond of this movie's use of "The Lion King" .......

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