In focusing on relationship dynamics between family members and romantic partners, Lumet gives the film weighty psychological content.

Sidney Lumet’s neo-noir film, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” has all the makings of a quality action thriller—a jewelry heist; an illicit affair, an accidental shooting, and a seriously dysfunctional family. However, in focusing on relationship dynamics between family members and romantic partners, Lumet gives the film weighty psychological content.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, with cold, expressionless eyes, slicked-back hair, and a persistent, throbbing vein on his forehead, plays Andy Hanson, a mercenary businessman with a narcotic problem who convinces his timid, passive-aggressive brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) to rob a “mom-and pop” operation, his parents’ jewelry store.

Although they have different personalities, many parallels are drawn between them, perhaps due to family ties. Both men are in financial need, and both have relationship problems—Andy is distant and unemotional to his wife except when they go on vacation; Hank’s ex-wife is constantly cursing at him and convincing their daughter Danielle that Hank is a loser, while demanding that he make his child-support payments that he can’t afford.

Andy’s wife Gina (Marisa Tomei) has gone so far as to have an affair with a man who should be completely inaccessible to her. Both use drugs to detach themselves from reality—Andy uses cocaine and gets heroin from an unsympathetic dealer; Hank spends a good portion of his time drinking at Moony’s, a local bar.

The robbery plans, constructed by Andy, seem well-crafted, until Hank chickens out and gets a third party involved. Things go horribly awry, damaging the Hansen family relations beyond repair and exposing more family secrets.

The acting in the film is very believable. The versatile Hoffman gives a notable performance as Andy, and Albert Finney is well cast as Charles, a grieving husband seeking revenge on his wife’s killers. Hawke, pale and thin with crooked teeth and shaggy hair, is perfect as the weak-willed Hank.

Lumet incorporates typical “noir” elements in the film—Venetian blinds, shots with no dialogue and background noise; dimly lit hallways. He tends to pan the camera slowly across the room, giving the viewer time to notice smaller details such as the television program or paintings on the wall.

Much of the film is set in flashback from several of the characters’ points of view. This proves to be an effective tool for retelling what really happened the day of the robbery.

Although the ending is not very surprising, and almost predictable, Lumet leads up to it quite well.

Part thriller, part soap opera and all intense drama, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is a suspenseful, finely crafted film.

> Comments