… “Before the devil knows you’re dead”. This thriller from veteran director Sidney Lumet – 83 at the time of directing this feature – forces upon the viewer the kind of tension that one associates with a steel band drawing increasingly tighter around one’s heart, with expiration coming ever closer. The film’s set-up is simple, but its telling is not. In a non-linear manner, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” shows us two brothers, both desperately in need of money and willing to commit a criminal act to get it. Both seem smart enough to know better but the act is committed and has consequences that will shake even the most jaded crime drama fan.
Featuring top performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and Albert Finney, the film is a study of desperation and vengeance without a redeemable character in sight. The characters are well written and believable and what happens to them is perfectly plausible in the world created by the film. The film opens with a scene of release and ends with another, different type of release in a way that indicates that it couldn’t possibly have ended another way. Taut and intelligent, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is a film of unexpected power. It seldom happens that I’m reeling from the impact of a film as I did with this one. Anyone looking for a cerebral thriller need to look no further.
Postscript: the current American financial crisis (aka Depression of Doom 2008) provides an interesting frame for reading this film as more than just a thriller.
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