Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Image Entertainment)
At 83, Sidney Lumet is one of those solid Hollywood craftsmen who came up through the Golden Age of television. He then entered feature films with such serious stage adaptations as
12 Angry Men
and
Long Day's Journey into Night
. Like Stanley Kramer, he frequently dealt with social issues -- focusing on a Holocaust survivor in
The Pawnbroker
; nuclear annihilation in
Fail Safe
; police corruption in
Serpico
and
Prince of the City
; and the dangers of the media in
Network
. He's a somber, rooted-in-the-real-world filmmaker who for some strange reason was called upon to bring the musical
The Wiz
to the screen back in 1978 and sucked any sense of joy out of that Broadway hit. But when he sticks to material that's suited to him, he can deliver the goods, as in such fine work as
Dog Day Afternoon
. His latest film,
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
(opening Nov. 9 throughout San Diego) eschews social issues, but focuses on a dark tale of one family's catastrophic downward spiral.
There's something about extremes that often prove fascinating and
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
is extreme in the way it proceeds to its inevitable bleak conclusion. It is in those extremes that the film proves compelling. As in such earlier Lumet films as
Dog Day Afternoon, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Verdict
and
Running on Empty
, his latest outing deals with characters under extreme pressure and desperate for change or a way out. The character most desperate for change in
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
is Philip Seymour Hoffman's Andy.
Max
January 23, 2008 at 07:52 PM
I like this movie better than you do, Beth. The whole story is revolving around the 3 men and I thought it was fascinating and was willing to let a few of the script flaws passed. It was completely unforgiven for any of these men in what they'd done to each other.
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