“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (2007)
I hesitated about seeing Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Phillip Seymour Hoffman got an Oscar nod for his part in the film, but I feared it would be too grim to appreciate. Grim it was, in the ancient tradition of messed-up family tragedies. But it was also well directed and put together, and so exceedingly well acted, that any qualms I had were overridden. I can’t say the qualms were put to rest, though, because it is a decidedly provocative and agitating movie.
Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play brothers who are in financial and family trouble. They attempt a crime they think will be victimless; by the end every single character is affected. And in true tragic form, many of them are dead. Lumet, director of classics like Dog Day Afternoon, makes a patchwork tale feel seamless. To an actor, the performances were outstanding, especially Hawke and Marisa Tomei. It’s a solid, well-done, classic tragedy.