| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
|
| Story: |
A+ |
|
|
| Acting: |
A+ |
|
|
| Direction: |
A+ |
|
|
| Visuals: |
A+ |
|
|
excellent lumet caper movie
by arthur c (movies profile)
Dec 7, 2007
6
of
6 people found this review helpful
this film can only be desctribed as a greek tragedy. while i liked it very much, it was dificult to sit through -- only because, like a classic opera, most of the characters' bodies littered the stage by the end. and the acting is incredibly good. i suppose one has to laud the director when all the leads are so very well done. hoffman is absolutely terrific, one of the best acting jobs i've seen, he lives the role. finney is just incredible. hawke and tomei are also very good; i would normally say better than excellent, except that finney and hoffman are so astoundingly good.
i have to put much of the "blame" for the tragedy on finney's character's shoulders - although he is a very old man, it's his film in a way, with hoffman's tortured andy acting out the nasty turmoil of his imagined childhood as his father's firstborn, only to be snuffed by the father. and andy's kid brother is a pitiful but sympathetic loser. i didn't think hawke had such a role in him, but he will amaze you with his acting skills here. a well-written character, tension created -"how could he be so stupid" you say, piteously, as he circles the drain.
the script is good, very good - it truly takes you down the rabbit hole of doom, step by step, inexorably. and it all has a distressingly familiar feel to it, as we all must see that the real lesson, such as it is, is how quickly an ordinary sucker can flip from pitiful banality to the evilest acts imaginable.
the film has kind of a low budget look and feel to it, kind of '70s, that works very well with the subject matter. i suspect the dp was looking for such a look - tacky, washed out, cheap ill-fitting suits, bargain-rack silk ties, psuedo-riche decor, worn out kitchens, dented cars, all matching the unredeemed lives slouching through the ill-lit badly-carpeted offices and houses and apartments. finney's lincoln town car, for example, has a bad trunk latch, and needs a wash and a bumper by the time the end mercilessly comes. or perhaps they simply had inferior equipment ... while the look may be tacky westchester county, the sufferiing of all concerned (save tomei's character, who possibly never had any feelings) comes accross very convincingly -- truly, fools trapped in bubbles of greed and vengeance.
all in all, a piteous experience, rendered very real by the tremendous acting and excellent script. hats off to lumet and all concerned, very well done. a must see for any serious filmgoer. |
My Public Profile 
