Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2007
dir. Sidney Lumet

"Am I my brother's keeper? Yes I am!"
- Nino Brown, New Jack City

"We're speaking about it as an idea. We're not actually talking about it as a robbery."
"As a robbery? No."
- George and Dave, Glengarry Glenn Ross

"Bad day. Fuck it."
- McManus, The Usual Suspects

Sidney Lumet has been directing films since my father was in high school, so I won't waste much time fawning over his resume.

Suffice to say:

The Pawnbroker, Fail Safe, Serpico, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, Prince of the City

If you haven't seen these movies, put your Netflix queue on danger money now, baby.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a heist-gone-wrong-cum- family-drama about a pair of brothers Andy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) who conspire to rob their parents' jewelry store. Andy, the more dominant of the two brothers, harasses and bullies Hank until he agrees to do the job.

I don't think I'm spoiling much by telling you that things don't work out as initially planned and the situation goes from bad to worse as Hoffman and Hawke try to fix the un-fixable situation.

Lumet was a child of five when Sigmund Freud published Civilization and Its Discontents. I have no idea if he ever read this book, but it could very well be the prototype for his body of work. He excels at capturing petty and mundane desperation.

Andy's discontent seems to stem from brief glimpses of happiness. He lives a humdrum life, doesn't really connect with his wife, is bored and distracted at work and has picked up a drug habit. On the other hand, he lives a peaceful life, doesn't really fight with his wife, has a high-paying job and a hobby he enjoys.

He can envision his life as it should be, yet happiness eludes him by the thinnest of margins. In chasing the dragon's tail he's dug himself just a little too deep for a savings plan and couple's therapy to do the trick.

The film is structured like a Quentin Tarantino production of Rashomon (which Lumet directed for television in 1960), moving back and forth through time and showing us the same moments overlapped from different points of view.

Unlike Tarantino, however, Lumet uses the time-shifting device to draw the audience deeper in to the emotional intensity of the story as it unfolds. He shows us one side of a conversation and then lets it sit as we watch the events leading up to the other side.

In this way, the story jumps like a duck between two increasingly hot hot plates. As the walls close in around the characters, we are left with no viable options: Sidney wins again.



Three stars. Jason sez, your money is no good here, Hank.