Philip Seymour Hoffman has clearly been a busy man - this is his third film released in the UK in so far this year. And following his oscar nominated turn in Charlie Wilson's War and his apparenttly excellent one in The Savages (which I've yet to see), it's another great performance from the man.
Hoffman plays one of two brothers (along with Ethan Hawke) who to get themselves out of financila difficulties, plan a robbery of their own parents' (Albert Finney and Spiderman's mum Rosemary Harris) with disastrous consequences. The dysfunctionality of the family being further exacerbated by the fact that Hawke is sleeping with Hoffman's wife (Marisa Tomei).
Hoffman is the shining light in a universally strong cast. Its just a shame that the film as a whole doesn't live up to the performances. Structurally it uses the Rashomon style trick of repeatedly re-winding to re-tell the story from a different perspective, but there's not enough difference between the re-treads and the end effect is for things to feel unnecessarily slow and repetitive. Its view of humanity also borders on the misanthropic with none of the characters being particularly likeable or sympathetic and attempts to explain their dysfunction feeling contrived and unsatisfactory. Furthermore, where the plot could have lent itself to a promising noir-ish thriller, this lacks any sense of either thrill or lightness of touch.
Overall - 2.5/5 Some great performances, especially from Hoffman, but the film as a whole is pretty hard going without the rewards at the end to make it worthwhile. Approach with caution.
2 comments:
ITYM Spiderman's aunt.
My bad - that is of course what I meant. I must have temporarily lost touch with my inner geek.
Post a Comment