Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a superb melodrama that is wound so tight you expect it to go flying off its rails at any moment. It never does though, in fact, it doubles back onto itself in an ingenious structure that adds to the overall tension. The fact that it was made by Sidney Lumet, at 83 and 3 years past his lifetime achievement Oscar is even more amazing.

The less you know about this film going into it the better. This is the type of movie that twists one way, then turns another. Never seeing what is coming next. I hesitate to say anything about the plot, wanting to spoil nothing.

I will say that the film is filled with great performances. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke are physically two of the most ill matched cinematic brothers, but that thought goes out the window the minute you see them in them together. There are two fractured human beings trying to move on in life but continuing to make one mistake after another. They are allowed to have feelings not usually associated with a crime drama, regret and remorse. Albert Finney is also perfect as their father, a man whose sorrow and anger lead him to truths about his family are too horrible to imagine.

I said this is a crime drama, and it is. What makes it even more special is that we are given to opportunity to see the aftermath of the actual crime. How it affects each member of the family. This all leads to a final section that is both perfect and almost too tense to watch. We see the depths these character must go to in order to try and live their lives. Also, not everything is perfectly wrapped at the end, and in a film like this, that is the way it should be.