Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Aleksa Palladino
ThinkFilm
Release date: April 15, 2008

Sidney Lumet, the legendary director who brought us classics such as Twelve Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and Network (1976), is the reason alone to see his new film Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. So say you’re not familiar with Lumet (shame on you), the story, which is a pitch perfect crime drama, that he puts on screen is such an emotionally devastating powerhouse that plummets a stake in the human heart and leaves it their for the entire movie. At the old age of 83 he still knows how to make a movie stick with you. He’s churning out films that are better than what all directors recently have been putting out today. No intense tricky camera work, no CGI tricks or stunts, just pure American filmmaking at its very peak.

Let’s start with the acting, which is the best acting you’ll see so far this year. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is starting, if he isn’t already, to be Hollywood’s most reliable actor. He brings to the table here a man named Andy Hanson who’s in such a rut, but on the other hand you would never seem to notice it. We don’t realize it because he dresses in rich suits, has hair that’s perfectly slicked back, has a well-paid real-estate job, and a beautiful wife in Gina (the beautiful Marisa Tomei).

The thing is, his problems aren’t visible because they are internal. He has a major addiction to drugs, wants to keep Gina happy, worries about his bank account all the time, and knows that he isn’t what his father (Albert Finney) wanted him to be. His brother Hank Hanson (Ethan Hawke is terrific) is in the same boat, only thing is his boat is dirtier. He needs money to pay for his daughter’s school but owes it to his ex-wife who was been paying it for the last three months. He’s constantly hearing this from her. Even his daughter puts him down as she calls him a “loser” for not coming up with the money to send her on a fieldtrip to see The Lion King. The apartment he resides in is dark and dirty and it’s here where Gina is his mistress. Yeah, he has a sexual affair with his older brother’s wife. This is a family that is on the brink of destruction.

We find that these two brothers use to have it made. Their mom (Rosemary Harris) and dad still have a loving relationship and they own a jewelry store in a New York suburban mall with old hopes of the boys inheriting it down the road. Now, the boys are grown up and in serious trouble. They each drifted away from their family. Both being in such a desperate situation, they’re willing to do anything. Anything!

Andy is a powerful and very confidant figure and Hank is weak and very easily tempted by Andy’s proposition. All you have to do is watch Hank’s facial movements to show his nervousness. Andy comes up with a plan to rob a “mom and pop” jewelry store, doesn’t sound so dangerous, but the catch is it’s their mom and pop’s jewelry store. Andy has mapped out everything from the exact day and time to perform this robbery and realizes their parents won’t loose a dime because of insurance. They’re banking on their plan to be flawless. If so, no one will get hurt. Not giving away too much of the plot because it is truly a real cinema treat to watch what follows after this robbery. Amazing. It shows the greedy world we live in and how evil travels fast.

First-time screenwriter Kelly Masterson balances so well between the two brothers and their problems. That’s mostly due to the unique feature that’s found in Before the Devil. She and Lumet make it a time-lapsing film. We’re shown Hank’s life three hours before the robbery, then present time, then Andy’s life happening while Hank was doing something. Just when we think we know how a situation will go about, we’ll get that unexpected flashback scene layering the stories so fittingly. Sounds complicating but really, when the execution is perfect the pay off is a magnificent gift: a masterpiece. It does this throughout the entire film. Always springing to new surprises to us. Lumet does this out of care for his characters and for the audience. He knows we will come to be obsessed with Andy and Hank, wanting to know their every move and he does just that with slick storytelling that has such precise detail.

It’s said that it’s only 30 minutes in Heaven before the Devil knows you’re dead. Our two characters were already dead. I, on the other hand, was in Heaven for two hours watching this film! The only time Andy and Hank seem to be in Heaven is when they are both having sex and that even comes at an evil cause as they are doing the same woman. What makes their characters more believable and sorrowful is that they’re not your ordinary crime killers or robbers, but that they can be anyone of us. They’re normal human beings just trying to get out of debt.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead possesses such a natural force of heartache and sorrow that it’s nearly impossible for us to take our eyes off of the screen. It’s head and shoulders above mostly every movie from last year. From Hoffman, who gives an Oscar-like performance; breaking down in emotional angst in several scenes to, Hawke doing the best hyperventilating scene in recent memory, all the way to Finney’s severely deep anguish. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead combines great acting with splendid storytelling and we witness a true classic in the making.

DVD Special Features

This single-disc DVD package makes it clear that it’s not about quantity, but rather about quality. Quality so high that the DVD demands to be purchased solely on that fact alone: sporting only two major features and a theatrical trailer. To simplify what one can experience while watching the making-of feature and the commentary track would be taking away a unique cinematic experience. We take the role of a fly on the wall during the making-of feature, listening attentively and watching wildly at such great talent discussing on-set issues. The making of feature entitled “How the Devil Was Made” (25 min) is choke full of insightful lessons by the legendary master himself, Sidney Lumet, as he entrenches us with his meaning of shooting the movie with an HD camera and, more importantly, how he made a few tweaks to an already spotless script (making them brothers rather than friends) by first-time writer Kelly Masterson. To join in on this intelligent conversation are the cinematographer, Hoffman, Hawke, and Tomei.

“How the Devil Was Made” was just a warm up to what the fascinating, at times flamboyant, Commentary Track has to offer. With thoughts bordering on the line of genius and comments so vigorous, Hoffman, Hawke, and Lumet serve us commentary that not only makes the film actually worth watching again, but to savor every nuance of those voices that fill our ears. This is one commentary that doesn’t feel staged. Instead it takes on the simplicity of a café conversation. The three talk about the movie’s screenplay, characters, and unraveling of the plot with so much ambition and passion that you realize this is why we love the movies.