Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Movie Review
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: A
Rating: R
Released: Friday, October 26, 2007
Directed by:
Cast:
In their discussion of "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," many commentators are focusing on the age of the director, Sidney Lumet, who turned 83 in June. Knowing how much sheer physical and mental effort goes into directing a movie, even a bad one, it is amazing that a man of Lumet's age would have the stamina. The fact that it turned out to be a sinister and alarming crime thriller better than most of its genre brethren is even more astonishing.
But let us not dwell on the ridiculously large number of candles on Lumet's birthday cake! "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" would be a fine movie for anyone to direct, consistently engaging and suspenseful, tragic in a grand, Greek way, and loaded with sharp performances. Lumet has often been interested in the law, whether in court proceedings ("12 Angry Men," "The Verdict") or in the actions of criminals ("Dog Day Afternoon"). It's in the latter category that the new film falls, covering a robbery that goes poorly, and all of its terrible aftermath.
The first thing we see is Philip Seymour Hoffman, in his misshapen, porcine glory, having sex with Marisa Tomei, whom Lumet somehow convinced to get naked for the film. The scene makes for a jarring sight, especially when it's the first thing in the movie, and already I'm thinking what I usually think about Hoffman's characters: One way or another, this guy is a lowlife.
Ah, and that he is. He plays Andy, an accountant with a drug problem, and he and his younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke), have conspired to rob a mom-and-pop jewelry store in order to solve their financial woes. The heist starts well but ends badly. There are casualties.
From there the movie starts to shift timelines and perspectives. First we go back three days to see Hank; then it's Andy the day before that; then we're in the present again with their parents, Charles (Albert Finney) and Nanette (Rosemary Harris). We learn that Tomei's character, Gina, is Andy's wife, but that he has lost interest in her, leading her to seek fulfillment elsewhere.
The lean, efficient screenplay, by first-timer Kelly Masterson, parcels out information carefully, keeping us wrapped up in the story. When a flashback shows Andy and Hank talking about the robbery, we get the impression they're career criminals, like Frank and Jesse James. Not so. Further flashbacks establish their characters more solidly. Andy has completely lost whatever moral compass he once had, having completely sold his soul to drugs. Hank, meanwhile, has money problems mostly due to having an ex-wife (Amy Ryan) and a daughter to support. His desperation, unlike Andy's, is not entirely his own fault.
Hank sees the consequences of things. Andy sees only his own needs and desires. "It's too late to think," Andy tells his nervous brother at a point when they are neck-deep in trouble. You get the feeling that even if he had thought beforehand, he still would have done it. Neither of them, we gather, has committed a crime before -- but Andy sure has a natural affinity for it.
I don't want to say too much about it, but you should know that the boys' father, Charles, becomes obsessed with finding an unknown assailant, and that his obsession threatens to destroy him the same way Andy and Hank's foolish behavior may be their undoing.
It's not the kind of movie that lends itself to a happy ending, is it? Yet it is the kind of movie that probably rewards multiple viewings, if only to stand in awe of the spot-on performances. Hoffman can make even the most sniveling and despicable character somehow seem human and relatable, always three-dimensional. Hawke is at the top of his game, too, playing Hank as a scared, sweaty mess who deserves something better than the raw deal he's getting. Finney, Tomei, Harris -- everyone's in rare form. Seeing it a second time would be like seeing a new production of "Macbeth." You already know the plot, but you can be riveted by the performances.
Lumet guides the film without extraneous details or scenes, using the natural momentum of the story to propel it. He has a musical score by Carter Burwell (who's done all of the Coen brothers' films) that feels urgent and ominous, playing the characters off to their destruction. And it sure is fun to watch, in the way that all good crime thrillers are -- fun, and heartbreaking, and even scary.
There's the old adage about desperate times calling for desperate measures. This is a movie about those desperate measures, and how they usually lead to more desperate times.
Grade: A
Rated R, abundant harsh profanity, a lot of nudity, some strong sexuality, brief strong violence
1 hr., 57 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 15 comments
November 27, 2007 at 12:56 pm
With a film purportedly this good, and yet, with no one having left his comments, one can hardly resist speculating that those who have viewed it (regardless of whether they liked it or loathed it) are reluctant to admit it. That could be the case, I suppose, if the readers of this site were only older women from Utah. So, viewers, do the benefits of this film easily eclipse the arguably emotional traumatic effect of permitting "abundant harsh profanity . . . " to wash over your brain?
November 30, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Are hasty generalizations and sweeping insults disguised as a question the way you usually try to start a conversation, Marcos?
December 1, 2007 at 9:57 am
Characterize the question any way you wish, but it is a simple question, and one that you decline to answer. Why?
December 2, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Because I haven't seen this particular movie, and would have no desire to answer your pretentious question even if I had. Maybe someone else that has seen it will, though.
December 5, 2007 at 9:55 am
I also didn't see Hairspray, which recieved a slightly lower grade, but was only rated PG. Why did you not demand an accouting then?
Hairspray
Grade: A-
Rated PG, some mild innuendo and double-entendre; a little very mild profanity
I am not an older women, nor am I from Utah. Please do not insult me by requiring justification for my movie veiwing choices.
December 8, 2007 at 4:42 am
Saw it tonight...but was less impress than I had hoped. Perhaps it is better upon a second viewing? But I admit, I'd only be watching it to see the first scene again. (a joke, I assure you...)
December 9, 2007 at 10:19 am
To Marcos:
I readily admit to allowing not only the "abundant harsh profanity" to wash over my brain, but the many images of Marisa Tomei in the buff as well. I believe that not many people left comments on this film because it's not playing in very many theaters.
While I wouldn't give this film an A, it was well worth the emotional scarring and years of therapy that Marcos assumes all viewers will have.
December 13, 2007 at 2:44 am
I saw this a week or two before Eric's review, and I considered posting a comment. I didn't, though, because it was the most recent film in a month full of viewing highly depressing, the-world-is-incredibly-depraved movies, and I couldn't tell if I hated the film because I didn't think it was all that well-made, or because emotionally I just couldn't take one more downer of a flick. I didn't leave a comment because no one really wants to read my gut-reaction of an opinion, not because I'm unwilling to admit that I saw the film.
(Of course, after stating my lack of qualifications for having a valid opinion, I must say that I see this film getting more of an A- than an A; I was quite surprised at Eric's grade.)
April 21, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Wow. What a movie. Eric gave it one of his rare A's, and I agree. Usually for a move to get an A in my book it has to have characters I can relate with. In this case I guess it's like watching a train wreck with out being on the train. As incredible as the events in this movie seem if you were to try and describe it, they seem completely believable as shown in the move, if not justifiable.
I have to admit that opening scene shocked me. I also thought "Marisa Tomei have you fallen so far?" But as Eric mentioned this scene is the first glimpse into Andy. During the scene he seems more interested watching himself in the mirror than paying attention to what is going on.
Also, excellent sound track. The music establishes itself at some of the early critical scenes, then uses that relationship to remind us during slower parts of the movie that despite how mundane current events seem, there are still very critical problems that have not been resolved, and will not go away until resolved.
I think "No Country for Old Men" was was a better, more rounded move, but for "tightness" of the plot and events, and tragedy, and unintended consequence, this movie was better. There was not one wasted second.
April 23, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I was also surprised to see this movie got an A. I didn't like the movie, but mainly because it was so dark. I can certainly appreciate the acting, because each actor did a fantastic job, and the directing was superb. So as a movie, its quality was topnotch. But I didn't like it regardless. Maybe it was the hopelessness that emanated from the beginning, but it just had a lost air about it, like there's no way out so the only reason to watch it is to watch and see HOW the characters finish it. I think whoever wrote this has a bit of a twisted mind, because watching it, I felt a bit like I was trapped in a nightmare knowing I was going to die at the end. I think it's worth watching for the quality, but it's such a downer and it was so bent on touching every taboo action within families, I felt almost ill afterward.
May 15, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I absolutely loved this movie. It was gut-wrenching; It was the gory car accident that awakens the id and forces you to bear witness. The director's comments were very enlightening and left me with a new appreciation of the melodrama. Very modern day Arthur Miller. It was obvious why stage actors were chosen for the parts. I give it an A as well and although I love the Coen Brothers, I think it was pound for pound a more solid piece than No Country.
July 24, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I just saw this film, and I think it deserves the A rating. I'll end with saying that I especially liked the opening words upon which the film builds: "You better be in heaven half an hour... Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."
August 2, 2008 at 8:36 am
I would have given this movie a B+. As has been noted, tremendous performances all around. The movie could have moved a hint faster at times. In particular the scene where Andy "fulfills his needs elsewhere." Granted, the scene was masterful at making the viewer uncomfortable, but it could have been done at least 20 seconds quicker. I also have a slight disagreement about Hank. He's sniveling push-over the entire movie, until one brief moment at the end. He was mostly annoying, but, I have to respect that, as I think that was intended. The scene that was the most powerful for me was when Charles and Andy talk about regrets in the side yard.
January 17, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Incredible screenplay. Incredible performances. Incredible director. The score I could have done without, though I usually like Burwell.
June 25, 2009 at 9:56 am
Just watched this after randomly picking out movies Eric gave an "A" to. I watched the movie "Doubt" two days ago, and I've concluded that Philip Seymour Hoffman plays slimebags so well that he must be closely in touch with his depraved side in real life. I would not openly recommend this movie to any of my friends or family, because I wouldn't want to have to admit to not turning it off immediately in the first seconds, when Seymour Hoffman is doing Marisa Tomei doggie-style in full soft-porn fashion. Marisa is HOT! He is nauseating. I noted that "Mr. Skin" rated this film the most "skintastic film of 2007," and I find myself examining my soul, wondering if I need to admit that the element of Tomei-lust doesn't nudge this film up a bit in my ratings. Don't watch this if you're concerned about what is good for you, or if you have an upcoming appointment with clergy.