Directed by
Sidney Lumet
117 minutes
Rated M
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Synopsis: Real-estate payroll manager Andy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) has money troubles. So does his brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) who is in arrears to his ex-wife for three months’ worth of child support. Andy suggests to Hank that they get some easy money by robbing a “mom and pop” local jewellery store. The only trouble is the store is owned by the brothers’ real mother and father. The seemingly foolproof crime goes horribly wrong and all the trouble lands fair and square on the doorsteps of Hank and Andy. Their father Charles (Albert Finney) is hell-bent on finding who committed the crime and as Hank’s life starts to unravel, so does Andy’s marriage to his spunky young wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei).The title of this film comes from a saying “May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead” and applies to the central characters in this story. With dual themes of the all-consuming American passion for money combined with the supposed importance of family, this film is certainly a scathing indictment of moral turpitude in today’s society, coupled with a thrilling, somewhat melodramatic and suspenseful story line, in which the noose tightens progressively around the lives of the major players. None of the characters is likeable though some are more to be pitied than others and the fine acting by the ensemble cast makes the detestable behaviour quite believable.
At 83 years of age director Sidney Lumet still knows how to turn out a tense and engaging movie. He also scripted this one and chooses the now popular device of playing with the narrative time structure. Thus each segment of the story has a subtitle dealing with a character and the time in relation to the robbery, for example “Hank: one day before the robbery”. The time sequence jumps about and each time another layer is added to the planning and outcome of the robbery along with that character’s perspective of what is happening.
This could almost be a modern Greek tragedy with some life lessons like leave crime to the professionals; the worst you have to fear is from those closest to you; and definitely, smart-assed confidence goes before a mighty fall! We see how one very idiotic and callous choice can lead to a total unravelling of everything around you.
Hawke gives us a splendidly pathetic and bumbling Hank, but it is Hoffman who again mesmerises us with his drug-addicted, overly confident, almost manic Andy who gradually exposes a vicious and murderous side to his nature. In one scene in which the character breaks down in a crying fit we see again why Hoffman is of today’s top actors. Tomei plays sexy to the max but that’s about all the insecure, duplicitous Gina has going for her. Finney is an old trouper and he is especially chilling as Charles, the dad who we initially think is a nice sort of old codger but whose nasty nature is revealed progressively making us think that it’s little wonder his sons had an ambivalent relationship with him.
Though the story doesn’t touch my life deeply, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is an excellent example of good old-fashioned film-making from a master practitioner.
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