ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

SIDNEY LUMET has been making great American films for over half a century. This is the man who gave us 12 Angry Men, Murder On The Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, Prince Of The City and countless other classics.

He is now 83 and returns to the very top of his form with Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, a crime thriller that matures into a Shakespearean tragedy about family, personal responsibility and the rotten apple that can infect a whole barrel.

An excellent cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman as Andy, a smug corporate fat cat who is barely keeping his life on track. He decides to stage a heist that will supply the necessary cash to give him a fresh start with his wife (Marisa Tomei).

He is to be the mastermind and his brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) will perform the actual deed. He has even selected a suburban jewellry store as their target. The first shocking twist comes with the realisation that the store in question is the one owned by their parents. What could be easier? What could be more dangerous?

Before The Devil employs an intricate structure of flashbacks that makes the story like an onion where the layers are slowly peeled away. We see the mechanics of the heist, flashbacks to the preparations and bad decisions before the event and then learn of the awful consequences that follow.

A simple thriller becomes a much weightier drama filled with moral dilemmas and misguided choices. The entire cast are good but Albert Finney really excels as the father who becomes aware of a cancer at the heart of his family. After fifty years at the top, Lumet is still a master of the smart, explosive adult thriller.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris
Screenwriter: Kelly Masterson
Certificate: 15
Running time: 123 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2007

© Allan Hunter, 2008