Before the Devil Knows Your Dead DVD Review

"Before The Devil Knows You're Dead" reviews

DVD

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-05-08 09:32:16

Provider

DVD Review

He may be well into his eighties, but Oscar-winning director Sidney Lumet still knows how to shock an audience.

This exploration of loyalty, greed and lust opens with the sort of sordid sex scene one does not expect to see from Philip Seymour Hoffman. His character, Andy Hanson, is a greedy, overweight business executive whose job in some humdrum office does not pay him enough to pay for his secret cocaine addict.

His bored and listless wife, Gina, - played by a sizzling Marisa Tomei - is less and less impressed with is increasing distance from her.

Andy and his hesitant, but ultimately weak brother, Hank hatch a plan to rob their own parents' jewellery store - which, due to incompetence, fails. But this is not a simple thriller about the aftermath of a robbery-gone-wrong, but a detailed exploration of the relationships that lead up to it and the complex events it precipitates. The plot dives back and forth between the 'before' and 'after', but the narrative never overpowers the expertise of the writing, directing and performances.

Ethan Hawke is at his best as Andy's pathetic brother Hank, who, to add to the complexities, is having an g an affair with Gina. Meanwhile, Rosemary Harris and in particular Albert Finney act well their complex roles as the brothers' parents who have failed them.

The tension between the characters is expertly handled and as a thriller, this is far more suspensful than your average Hollywood feature; and as a morality tale, it is far more honest and revealing.

The DVD release comes with an audio commentary from the director and cast, a "Making Of" featurette and a theatrical trailer.