Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007) — Network is one of my favorite movies and Dog Day Afternoon is pretty damn good so a while back I bought the Blu-Ray of Sidney Lumet’s latest film and several months later finally got around to watching it. Let me tell you, if you’ve ever felt like “I’m a bad son” watch this movie and feel better about yourself. Seriously. Family dysfunction takes on new levels. To elaborate on the story would in essence be spoiler-filled so I will simply say that the story revolves around the robbery of a Mom and Pop jewelry store, opening with the robbery and then showing many of the events leading up to it and following it. Albert Finney and Rosemary “Aunt May” Harris play the mom and pop and Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke have the lead roles as their two sons. Marisa Tomei also stars as Hoffman’s wife [between this movie and The Wrestler, Tomei has been somewhat of an exhibitionist lately and I am certainly not complaining]. There are also supporting turns from Brian F. O’Byrne, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Shannon, and Amy Ryan. The story is well-acted and it sort of reminds me of a recent Woody Allen film called Cassandra’s Dream. This is mostly a story about guilt and deception. It’s a damn good one. Sidenote: I saw another review on here saying “Lumet gave us another good one before he left us.” Sidney Lumet is not dead [at the time I wrote this in 2009, he wasn’t. He is now.]. Just thought that might be worth pointing out.
Persistence of Vision 