Weekend review part 2: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was a very pleasant surprise to watch. I had actually suggested this one to my fellow critic Panopticon about 2 weeks ago. It was a suggestion based strictly on the actors involved since I had not yet seen the movie. I figured anything with Ethan Hawke, Philip Symour Hoffman and Albert Finney in a starring role had to be somewhat watchable despite what the critics and movie going public had decided.

Without giving away too much, this is a story about two brothers, both down on their luck, but for different reasons. Both wanting to make a change and both having some sort of deep rooted family problems. The dynamic between the older brother Hoffman and the younger brother Hawke was actually the best part of the movie. I wasn't sure that they were going to be able to pull that off since its usually Hoffman that plays the down on his luck guy, but they both played their roles to perfection.

Quick aside, for some reason Marisa Tomei is nude in 90% of the scenes she is in. I'm not saying this as a bad thing AT ALL, haha, but it just seemed like a weird role for her. And you'll know what I mean from the first shot of the movie.

Albert Finney is another one of those actors that seems to elevate whatever little role is given to him. Here he plays the distraught father of the 2 main characters and his despair and sadness permeates every scene he is in.

The style of this movie though is what really elevates it from just good to very very good. Essentially you are given a chance to explore each scene of the movie through each persons role in that scene. Now what I mean by that is, the director uses flashbacks to show every scene from every characters point of view. My only complaint is that sometimes it was hard to keep track of where we were actually at in the movie, but that usually resolved itself pretty quickly.

My favorite scene, and Panopticon can argue this, is right near the end when Hoffman takes control of things at his drug dealers apartment. The desperation of both him and Hawke in that scene was amazing and really showed their range as actors.

Panopticon and I had discussed the ending and he was concerned that there really was no redemption for any of the characters. And I guess in a way her was right, there is definitely nothing close to a happy ending for anyone involved, but in the grand scheme of the movie, I think that's what the director was really going for. He just wanted to show that sometimes there are things or situations that happen in our lives that really affect us deeply and its hard to escape the person that these "situations" build. In the end I really took away the importance of family and how our parents really shape who we become. While not saying it outright, we can infer that Finneys dad in the movie at some point in time neglected one or both of his children which led to a lifetime of resentment by at least one of them.

All in all this was a great movie with some real innovative direction and I highly suggest you guys netflix it or take a trip out to blockbuster to rent it.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead verdict - GUILTY