I’m sort of on a Philip Seymour Hoffman kick recently. He’s always been one of my favorite actors, but without planning it at all he’s popped up in 3 of the last four movies I’ve rented (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Savages, Scent of a Woman) and the next one I’m planning on getting is another PSH movie, Charlie Wilson’s War.
Devil was one of the movies that I was most disappointed to have missed in theaters last year. Beside PSH, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney are both exceptionally talented. Marisa Tomei even deserves more credit than she gets; I totally forgot that she won an Oscar (granted it was in 1993, but she was also nominated a second time in 2001 for In the Bedroom). The film got almost unanimously good reviews and seemed like it would be right up my alley, so I don’t know how I let this one slip by.
Devil is the story of two brothers, PSH and Hawke, who are desperate for money and plan what they believe is the perfect crime to solve all of their problems. That perfect crime happens to be robbing a suburban Mom-and-Pop jewelry store, with the Mom-and-Pop specifically happening to be theirs. When the execution of the robbery fails miserably, the lives of everyone involved are thrown into chaos.
The style of the film seems like the lovechild of Memento and Magnolia. By this I mean that it flashes backward and forward in time and tells the story from alternating character perspectives. This is always a risky proposition because it is difficult to keep the flow of the story in tact when the events are unfolding out of order or happening multiple times. Devil, however, manages this dynamic wonderfully.
The plot of the film is interesting on its own, but it wouldn’t have been half as successful it wasn’t for the stunning performances of this cast. PSH always does a great job, and he is fully on top of his game as Andy, a troubled and manipulative man who has let his drug problem put him in financial trouble despite his six figure income. Hawke does a great job as Hank, Andy’s submissive younger brother who we get the feeling has does nothing but let people walk all over him his entire life. Tomei plays Andy’s wife who is struggling with Andy’s emotional absence. Another quick note on Tomei: wow, she is naked a whole lot in this movie, and right from the beginning too. It’s a good thing that she is in the same league as Diane Lane as far as incredibly sexy women over 40 (Tomei is actually a few weeks older than Lane, does this surprise anybody else as much as it does me?). The only negative aspect of the amount of nudity in this movie is that, right off the bat in the first scene, we have to endure a moderately graphic sex scene between Tomei and Hoffman, who is literally one of the five people in the world I would least like to ever think about having sex. Albert Finney, who I’m not entirely convinced isn’t the same person as Tom Hendrickson and Brian Cox, plays Hank and Andy’s father and gives an inspired performance as a man seeking to cope with not only a profound loss, but also a crushing betrayal.
Devil is directed by five-time Oscar nominee Sidney Lumet. As I mentioned earlier, the film is a wonderful example of how to handle a difficult style. The movie is paced really well, and despite being moderately long and far from cheerful, it held my interest throughout and never seemed to drag. I also appreciated how, to match the atmosphere of the plot, Devil is shot in a lot of dark, muted tones. Locations were chosen well and truly seemed like places the characters we are presented with would inhabit, from the run down bar that Hank frequents to the upscale, modern apartment where Andy visits his dealer.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead isn’t for everyone. It’s a dreary, character driven tragedy that isn’t going to appeal to those whose favorite movies are cheery romantic comedies or action-packed Hollywood blockbusters. That being said, the acting is superb, the direction is top notch, and indie film buffs are going to be in heaven. Go rent it when you’re taking it easy and having a night at home by yourself or hanging out with some friends who prefer The Terrace to Palmetto Grande.
p.s. For anyone who reads this who isn’t from Charleston, The Terrace is our local art house theater and Palmetto Grande is the stereotypical enormous mega-plex.
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