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Before The Devil Knows You're Dead |
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Friday, 28 March 2008 |
 Starring Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman; Directed by Sidney Lumet
Evil, as perpetrated by ordinary people, is given a bold face in Lumet’s riveting new thriller – a little because of the innocents it takes down, a lot because of its unlikely source. It’s the stuff of tabloid news: an older woman is tragically killed when her store is robbed. The back-story is one that never makes the papers, and inspires shock, outrage and dismay.
Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is a character-study so grueling, a morality tale so excruciating, a thriller so captivating that it leaves its contemporaries for dead. Lumet frames Devil and its MacGuffin with a layered time structure that commands attention while the principles go about their exhilarating job. Leading are Hoffman and Hawke as two money-troubled brothers with a plan that couldn’t possibly go wrong. Of course, it does, forcing them to frantically dig their way out of trouble; a vain hope that will bring their entire family down with them. Corruption, drugs and infidelity play their hand, yet Devil is, foremost, a mind-bending study of evil.
Lumet has not been as consistent as his contemporaries over the years, but when firing, he’s unbeatable. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is one of this year’s best films.
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