Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
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Our Price: $11.69
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Average Customer Rating:  
Manufacturer: ThinkFilm
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary Harris
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0014381487527
Format: AC-3
Label: ThinkFilm
Manufacturer: ThinkFilm
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: ThinkFilm
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-04-15
Running Time: 112
Studio: ThinkFilm
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Desperation Begets More Desperation, and Then Some.
Comment: "May you be in heaven half an hour...before the Devil knows you're dead." Thus begins the 45th film of Sidney Lumet's 60-year directing career, a New York crime drama with an intimate feel and a gamut of emotions. Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is an upper-middle class executive living beyond his means. His brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) is a working class divorcé with burdensome child support payments. They both need money in a hurry. The cooler Andy cajoles the malleable Hank into robbing their parents suburban jewelry store. And one disaster leads to another.
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" shows us the robbery first, then jumps back in time to what led to it. The mystery is not who committed the crime, but why. We see the days leading up to the robbery more than once, but nothing is actually repeated, as we are seeing events from different perspectives. Then it is forward in time, to the aftermath. The story is told through conversations in closed spaces, which create an accelerating sense of the world caving in on Andy and Hank, a downward spiral from which they try to escape with increasing desperation.
Sidney Lumet was quick to label this film a "melodrama", and if viewers take it any other way, credibility will be strained. People tend to think of melodrama as something that goes over the top, leaving the audience either laughing or dozing off out of incredulity. That's melodrama done badly. I'm a huge fan of the crime thrillers and murder dramas of the 1940s that came to be known as "film noir". They're about extremes of behavior. Pure melodrama. They succeeded because they were introverted, and the actors emoted as little as possible. They barely moved their facial muscles.
Ever since more histrionic styles of acting came into fashion in the 1970s, melodrama has been a risky undertaking. Bizarre behavior and emoting are a dicey combination. Performances can easily slip into the realm of the ridiculous. This happens a few times in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead", but the mundanity always overcomes the melodrama. The film grounds itself in constant reminders of just how mundane it all is. The score and all the little middle class details tell us how ordinary these lives are, even as they are flipping out. So we can enjoy the fireworks without questioning the behavior.
The DVD (ThinkFilm 2008): There is a featurette, a theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary. '"Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made" (24 min) interviews Sidney Lumet, actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, and Marisa Tomei, and producers Michael Cerenzie and Brian Linse, about the script, melodrama, Lumet's directing style and rehearsal process. The feature commentary is with Sidney Lumet, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Ethan Hawke. In a friendly tone, they discuss shooting in HD, working with familiar New York actors, casting, and provide some scene-by-scene commentary. Subtitles are available for the film in English SDH and Spanish.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Who would have thought that Ethan Hawke could act?
Comment: I have to say I was very suprised. He was very good in this movie. Hoffman was excellent, and I have to say it was a pleasure seeing Albert Finney, (remember, Audry Hepburn and he in "Two for the Road" or "Daddy Warbucks" in "Annie") topping his career with a stellar performance as the grief stricken husband. All the actors did a fine job in their roles. Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Top-notch melodrama!
Comment: I was led, somehow, to this flick because of the names Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sidney Lumet, an irresistible pairing.
Masterful in many ways, this film, and Hoffman seems unable to do wrong from one project to the next. What a treasure this actor is!
Do not miss the documentary, the lesson from Lumet on the proper definition of melodrama, and a glimpse at a director in his eighties who is as stoked with creative energy as someone fifty years his junior.
Customer Rating:
Summary: wow
Comment: I can't help but laugh when I read these reviews that say 'predicable plot.' When was the last time you saw a movie when the kids robbed their parents?
Michael Clayton? Now THAT was a predictable plot. Bad lawyer turned good has been done to death.
This movie is an overlooked good show.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Characters Walking Down The Stairway Of Hell
Comment: Last night I went to my favorite grocery store in Rochester, NY: Wegmans (#1 in the USA according to the Consumer Reports) and had a Red Box video rental vending machine vacuum down a dollar bill. Out came the movie "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead". Starring one of my favorite actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is also from Rochester, NY (Fairport to be exact.) I just watched it and what a tremendous story and acting and directing and just plain film making. EVERYTHING is so well thought out, and I am AMAZED that the entire movie was made digitally with HD.
Although I loved the distinction Sidney Lumet makes between "characters defining a story" and "a story defining the characters" for the words 'thriller' and 'melodrama', respectively, I agree with Ethan Hawke's definition of `melodrama' as it is understood today. So, may I invent a new word to fit Lumet's latter definition? How about `melothriller'? Where it is defined as thriller where the circumstances of a story define the characters. Perhaps the movie `Crash' would fall under the same category. But this story comes across much less concocted than the `Crash'. Kudos, therefore, to the writer: Kelly Masterson.
As the characters of this story slowly walk down the stairs of hell the energy of the story increases beyond tragedy and grabs the viewer's attention till the very end.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Master filmmaker Sidney Lumet (The Verdict Dog Day Afternoon Serpico) scores big with this absorbing suspense thriller. Oscar®-winner* Philip Seymour Hoffman is Andy an overextended payroll executive who lures his younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) into a larcenous scheme: the pair will rob a suburban mom-and-pop jewelry store that appears to be the quintessential easy target. The problem is the store owners are Andy and Hank's real mom and pop and when the seemingly perfect crime goes awry the damage sends them hurtling toward a shattering climax. System Requirements:LENGTH: 117 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 014381487527 Manufacturer No: CAP4875DVD
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