Is Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead a great film, masterfully directed and acted? You bet.
Would I want to see it again? Not on your life.
Director Sidney Lumet’s incredible return to form is one hell of a gruelling experience for the viewer – and it doesn’t let up until the credits roll. It reminds me, in terms of how I felt leaving the theatre, of In The Bedroom (which also happens to feature Marisa Tomei) - appreciative of the quality, but as though I’d been slapped across the face.
Lumet plumbs the depths of humanity in this family drama about two down-on-their-luck brothers who decide to knock over a mom-and-pop jewellery store in order to escape their financial woes. Thing is, it’s their own parents’ shop they’re robbing – and when things go terribly wrong it sets into motion a chain of increasingly tragic and terrible events.
Philip Seymour Hoffman dominates the screen as older brother Andy, a payroll manager stealing from his real estate firm to fund his drug habit and lavish lifestyle. Andy is cool, calculating, and the supposed brains behind the operation, which he argues is victimless because the folks are insured. He lures his weaker, sniveling younger brother Hank, Ethan Hawke in an understated but equally effective performance, into taking part. The source of Hank’s money woes is his child support payments – his ex-wife and daughter both think he’s a loser and he wants to do a better job of providing for her. Connected to both brothers is Gina (Tomei), unhappily married to Andy and having an affair with Hank.
Penned by Kelly Masterson, the story jumps back and forth between characters in the days leading up to and after the botched robbery, revealing more about their motivations along the way. Andy, for instance, harbours a deep seated resentment toward his parents, his father Charles (Albert Finney) in particular. Meanwhile, Charles makes it his personal vendetta to find out who was responsible for the burglary, not knowing that the answer is far closer to him than he’d ever believe.
Hoffman and Hawke in a scene from Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
The director takes his time telling the story, and eschews the Hollywood route for an effect that’s often far more dramatic in its restraint anyway. A scene where Andy has a controlled breakdown in his apartment, at one point slowly emptying a bowl of river rocks onto a glass table that gets scratched but doesn’t shatter, is one such example – it’s totally in keeping with the character and effectively hints at his potential to crack under the weight of the situation. And you know it’s only a matter of time before he does.
It’s hard to find anyone to root for in Before The Devil, especially when the characters’ awful acts are being perpetrated on their own family. Andy and Hank’s relationship is built on envy and disdain, neither seems to have a particularly good relationship with their parents, and their wives (or ex-wives as the case may be) both seem more interested in their money than in them. Charles, meanwhile, was far from the perfect parent to hear him tell it. And though that doesn’t begin to excuse what his sons did to him it offers a possible clue into why they turned out the way they did.
I suppose the person deserving of our cheers then is Lumet, who at 83 is just as vital a filmmaker as he was when he made 12 Angry Men, Serpico, or Dog Day Afternoon. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is as engaging and thought-provoking as any of those now-classics, and may well be considered a classic in its own right some day.
Posted by Cate Jones
Agree? Disagree? Email Cate at criticizecate@gmail.com
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (**** out of 5)
Rated: R in US/18A in Canada
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Written by: Kelly Masterson
Related links: THINKFilm page, IMDB page, Apple trailer
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