Ryan McNeil
No red carpet in sight…lots of tickets available…programmers getting into the Anti-Piracy-“Yarrrrgh“. It must be day ten. With day ten, come the leftovers. The good-looking, under-delivering films that end off this front-end-loaded festival. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen a handful of good movies on the last day (IN AMERICA, THE COOLER, WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE)…but those gems are far outnumbered by the junkers. Today’s movie BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOW YOU’RE DEAD ( * * 1/2 ) falls somewhere in between.
The story is that of a jewelry store robbery gone wrong. The twist is that the owners of the shop, are the parents of the robbers (Ethan Hawke and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman). The story plays out in broken flashbacks, beginning with the robbery in the opening scene and filling in the rest as the movie goes along. The story was pretty good to begin with, so I don’t really think the broken narrative was really needed.
The title is a reference of the old saying “May The Lord take you into heaven at least half an hour before The Devil knows you’re dead”. That’s actually rather appropriate for this film, since everyone but the mother has some rather large sins on their souls.
While I’ve seen better films of this sort, and expected a bit more from director Sidney Lumet (DOG DAY AFTERNOON), it was a pretty good movie and I would recommend it for anyone looking for a story of one seriously dysfunctional family. The film will be released in theatres at the end of October.