Spring Break
Lumet film traces psychological spiral
Issue date: 11/8/07
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It would seem that a character like Andrew Hanson has gotten all that he could ask for in life. The first scene of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead finds Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) making love to his gorgeous wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei), in a luxury hotel.
With a cushy office job, an apartment straight out of a Crate & Barrel advertisement and two kindly parents waiting for him back in New York, he's clearly made out a lot better than most pompous, pudgy middle-agers would in the real world. Naturally it comes as something of a shock when Andy concocts a plan to rob the jewelry store that his father and mother have owned for decades.
The life of Hank Hanson, in contrast, looks like limbo from his first frame on. Played by Ethan Hawke, Hank comes off as an eternal, overgrown kid brother - a compilation of twitches, tics and puppy-like trust, depleted by child support payments to an exasperated ex-wife (Amy Ryan) and a daughter who calls him a loser. This desperation makes him the most pliable accomplice his older sibling could ask for. According to Andy's plan, all Hank has to do is break inside the store right after it opens - when his father, Charles (Albert Finney), and his mother, Nanette (Rosemary Harris), will be nowhere in sight - scare the saleslady, grab the goods and run. Insurance will cover everything and each brother will be a few hundred grand richer.
To say much more about the events of director Sydney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead would be to compromise one of the year's most engaging and unpredictable films so far.
Of course, things go distressingly wrong on Hank's watch. Yet the cycle of insult, violence and heartbreak that follows in the next few days is the basis for a script that melds close observation with expansive emotions.
Today it is reassuring to find a movie with so many Academy Award laureates or award-hungry performances that avoids the annoying "something for everyone" ensemble vibe that surrounded features like Babel, Crash and Syriana.
With a cushy office job, an apartment straight out of a Crate & Barrel advertisement and two kindly parents waiting for him back in New York, he's clearly made out a lot better than most pompous, pudgy middle-agers would in the real world. Naturally it comes as something of a shock when Andy concocts a plan to rob the jewelry store that his father and mother have owned for decades.
The life of Hank Hanson, in contrast, looks like limbo from his first frame on. Played by Ethan Hawke, Hank comes off as an eternal, overgrown kid brother - a compilation of twitches, tics and puppy-like trust, depleted by child support payments to an exasperated ex-wife (Amy Ryan) and a daughter who calls him a loser. This desperation makes him the most pliable accomplice his older sibling could ask for. According to Andy's plan, all Hank has to do is break inside the store right after it opens - when his father, Charles (Albert Finney), and his mother, Nanette (Rosemary Harris), will be nowhere in sight - scare the saleslady, grab the goods and run. Insurance will cover everything and each brother will be a few hundred grand richer.
To say much more about the events of director Sydney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead would be to compromise one of the year's most engaging and unpredictable films so far.
Of course, things go distressingly wrong on Hank's watch. Yet the cycle of insult, violence and heartbreak that follows in the next few days is the basis for a script that melds close observation with expansive emotions.
Today it is reassuring to find a movie with so many Academy Award laureates or award-hungry performances that avoids the annoying "something for everyone" ensemble vibe that surrounded features like Babel, Crash and Syriana.
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