Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

****

11/9/07
by Scott Cupper

Andy………………….Philip Seymour Hoffman
Hank………………….Ethan Hawke
Charles……………….Albert Finney
Nanette………………..Rosemary Harris
Bobby………….……. Bryan F. O’Byrne
Dex…………………...Michael Shannon

Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Kelly Masterson

Rated R
Runtime: 1 hr. 57 min.


Here’s a Rube Goldberg Movie that works. You remember Rube Goldberg, right? He was the cartoonist who drew complex contraptions to perform simple things like getting olives out of a jar. There are a number of movies that I label this way: House of Sand and Fog, A Simple Plan, In the Bedroom, and most recently, The Brave One. These movies all take their average, everyday characters and move them toward an outlandish, often violent, conclusion. I like some of these, others not so much, but none do I feel really work. I always felt that the script was a contraption that the characters were being forced to use. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead lets the characters create the contraption and observes as they use it.

Characters are often pawns, but these characters live and breathe. They make choices that are irrational. They reveal themselves with their words and movements. Their past is as tangible an element as the present. It’s this attention to the past that is a large part of the movie’s success. In the grand scheme of things, we knew little about Jodie Foster’s character in The Brave One. In Before the Devil… we feel that each character has been dealt their part and we’re here to watch them as they reach the inexorable conclusion.

Why do I suspect a playwright when I witness this care for character in a movie? And why am I correct? Screenwriter Kelly Masterson is a playwright. This is his only produced screenplay and I found no evidence that he has more coming. I imagine that will change. Much has been written about what a movie and what a play can accomplish, but none of it convinces me that such a dichotomy exists. Certainly not Sidney Lumet’s career which is sprinkled with play adaptations (12 Angry Men anyone?).

So when am I going to get around to talking about the movie? It’s difficult. There is so much to mention about the movie that it’s easy not to deal with any specifics, particularly when I don’t want to reveal, well, anything. But to give an idea: Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) are brothers, both in need of money. Though the movie jumps around in time, the plot is fairly straightforward. Andy and Hank hatch a plan to rob their parents’ jewelry store. They know the layout, the people involved, it should be easy and safe. Naturally, everything goes awry.

It may feel like I’ve revealed too much. I haven’t. A bank robbery in another movie would be the climax. It is nothing more than a catalyst here and is almost incidental. It’s when we meet Albert Finney as the father that we realize this isn’t a heist movie at all. It’s a family drama.

The performances in this movie are nothing short of amazing but I don’t want to go into detail. The joy of the movie comes from discovering who these people are, the dynamics of their relationships and how these elements propel them. Let it suffice to say that any and all of the leads deserve whatever award nominations they receive.

I was surprised that the performances elicited some chortles from the audience at parts that were clearly not meant to be humorous. I believe that the rawness of the performances made them uncomfortable. An actor friend of mine told me a story about a non-actor he knew who decided he would take a small role in a production. A bit into the rehearsal process, he confessed to my friend that he had thought that acting was getting up and saying things in a cool way, but he found it to be a lot more than that. It’s a lesson these audience members could stand to learn. There is nothing cool about these characters. They are ugly people in ugly situations doing ugly things. The actors are perfect.

There’s a voyeuristic thrill to Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Writer Kelly Masterson has tied these characters into a Gordian Knot and shown Sidney Lumet the end which he relishes pulling slowly. When you begin with a robbery, it’s hard to believe there’s anywhere to go, but Mr. Masterson shows us that the bottom is a lot deeper than we think. It is a gruesome journey, but I dare you to look away.

The Brave One

**1/2

by Scott Cupper
10/17/07

Erica Bain…….…………….Jodie Foster
Detective Mercer……………Terrence Howard
David Kirmani………………Naveen Andrews
Detective Vitale…………….Nicky Katt
Carol………….……………..Mary Steenburgen

Directed by Neil Jordan
Screenplay by Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort

Rated R
Runtime: 1 hr 59 min


The Brave One suffers from the same problems a lot of other movies of this type do. You know, the kind of movie in which a normal, everyday, average, run-of-the-mill person murders someone. I have a problem with these kinds of movies. They think that a character can be moved from Point A (not killing) to Point B (killing) through a number of situations and that at the end, we’ll believe that this person can be a murderer. I was talking about this with a friend and he made the remark that they work like a Rube Goldberg drawing. Well, Rube Goldberg Movie it is. But I, for one, have yet to believe it.

Jodie Foster plays Erica Bain. She has a great job (radio show host) and a great fiancé, David Kirmani (Naveen Andrews). Life is great. And maybe the movie has already gone wrong. But I’ll digress later. One night, Erica and David are walking their dog through Central Park. They are harassed by some hoods who end up attacking them. It is a brutal scene. In the end, David is dead and Erica nearly so.

At this point, we get the obligatory scenes of recovery, the police questioning someone and not being sympathetic to the fact that they’re still grieving, and depression. I sound like I’m belittling this. I’m not; I’ve simply seen it before. I will say that Erica’s fight to get out of her building is excellent. The soundtrack comes alive at this point. Subtle animal noises are added to sounds like cars passing. Every footstep behind her becomes a new threat. This must be what it feels like to return from war.

The Rube Goldberg portion begins at this point. The first place Erica goes after leaving her house is to the police station to check on the progress on her case. They are no help, so she goes across the street and buys a gun off the black market. Yes, her fiancé died. Yes, she almost died. Yes, the streets are scary. Yes, the police won’t help. But if she’s been waiting that long, I think she might have waited a little longer. And why does she get the gun? Protection? Vengeance? It’s only later when she’s cornered that she uses it.

It seems that the powers that be in Hollywood don’t think that we can handle an everyday person becoming a killer. Erica can’t simply awaken after being beaten nearly to death and desire to kill someone. That’s not sympathetic. She has to be given hoops to jump through. A similar thing happened with the Michael Douglas movie Falling Down. He couldn’t simply start shooting people because he couldn’t handle the daily grind. No, they had to give him a history of violent tendencies. While this makes the movie easier to swallow, it also castrates it. What could be social commentary becomes a run-of-the-mill thriller.

There’s a scene where two men sexually threaten Erica on a train and she shoots them. I went to see the movie with my girlfriend and a female friend of ours and they really responded to this scene. They’ve been in similar situations, not as dangerous, but as violating in their own ways, and they appreciated a woman protecting herself. It’s the scene I felt was the most true. If a regular person is going to kill, it will either be an impulsive choice or come from a lifetime of injustice. I said at the beginning that giving Erica a wonderful life might have been a mistake. It seems like too far to go. Perhaps if her dog had been the only thing she had, I might have believed it more.

Jodie Foster is in this movie. She doesn’t do many. I wish she did more. While I never believed what the script gave her, I always believed her. It is a very raw performance.

Terrence Howard is as good as Detective Mercer who is investigating the murders and also gets to know Erica on a personal level. Their scenes together are the best part of the movie. He suffers the same fate as Jodie Foster and the movie again doesn’t always know what to do with the fact that he doesn’t know she’s the killer he’s looking for but she knows. But it is a joy watching two actors who are so skilled at their craft. If either of them are nominated for Oscars, I would not complain.

Nicky Katt plays Detective Mercer’s partner. His morbid humor at the crimes scenes is hilarious, but having his character there for comic relief only is a mistake. It’d be much more interesting if Terrence Howard were given those lines.

The whole movie is muddled. Is this a revenge movie or a psychological study of someone recovering from trauma? By not choosing either, The Brave One blazes a trail down the wide line of mediocrity. The director, Neil Jordan, is best known for The Crying Game. He generally goes his own way, but with this one, I felt like he was in a Tug-of-War with the studio, but not a very exciting one. Some Tug-of-Wars go back and forth. This is the kind where nothing really happens until someone’s in the mud. I’ll let you decide who.

Note: If there're a way to give this movie a positive review, Tracy did it. You can read her review here. Also, if you don't know who Rube Goldberg is, go here.