“I don’t want your shit to fall in my shoes,” is a line uttered between co-conspirators during the planning stages of a bit of petty larceny. This line is darkly funny, and not the least bit ironic, considering that the conspirators are brothers and plan on knocking over their parents suburban strip-mall jewelry store (literally the ‘mom and pop’ shop).
With Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead prolific American master Sidney Lumet takes noirish genre-conventions and cleverly combines them with one of those family pressure-cooker dramas from Todd Field or Vadim Perelman. The result is something that leans to the former but is pleasantly elevated by the latter. Insofar as I really cannot think of a noir to be contained so tightly to a single family (and takes such dark pleasure with the ties that bind) the familiar rhythms of a botched crime film are given a fresh new spin.
The full version of the quote from which the titles is derived is apparently from an old Irish toast: “May you be in heaven half an hour... before the devil knows you're dead.” It is clear the characters are going to have to heed that advice (impossible as it is) because they are not the most sympathetic or morally upstanding lot. Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is in some serious dept from his Manhattan lifestyle which includes a boutique heroin habit and South American vacations with his wife (Marisa Tomei in her sexiest performance ever). Seen in the opening strains of the film in rough dispassionate sex, they only seem to connect (and by connect it is only literally) when on vacation. This may be due to the fact that his screw-up younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke, looking particularly gaunt and slimy) is having lunch-break sex sessions with Andy's wife. Hank’s got debt problems of his own in the form of ex-wife and childcare expenses. He is eventually cajoled by Andy into doing the hands on work of the robbery while Andy handles the fencing duties. Their father Charles (Albert Finney) is one of those gruff patrons that wants their kids to do well and encourages them by kicking them in the pants. There is a stew of negative tensions clearly laid over the course of the film, which provide ample suspension of disbelief for brothers misbegotten scheme.
When they say that most robberies (and for that matter homicides) are committed by family members or friends, they have Andy and Hank’s clan in mind. The logic behind such a foolish heist is that brothers know the routines, the security and vault codes, and that their parents won’t be in the store at the time. Everything is insured, so nothing should go wrong. Those oft uttered words from either confident never-do-wells or accountants “It all adds up.” Andy happens to be both. Of course it adds up to blackmail, betrayal, murder and everyone is obligated to attend family gatherings in between.
Stylistically, Lumet employs a disjointed structure to the film, focusing not on a linear narrative, but telling many of the same events from different character perspectives. While the transition technique between these scenes is a little clumsy (maybe an aging veteran trying to make like those ‘younger upstarts’); the actual decision to tell the story this way was the right one. By being given the same scenes from multiple points of view much needed insight into the emotional motives of each brother, and their initially clueless father goes a long way to generating any sympathy (a much needed entry point). The repetition of various scenes and details also allow Marisa Tomei and Michael Shannon (here playing a smarmy version of his creepy charmer in Friedkin’s Bug) to make large impressions with small roles that glide between the story strands.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is low-key in the way many a solid crime pot-boiler is. The pedigree may be in A-list territory but things are driven along with a character actor ethic. Nearly every player here has either been nominated or won an Academy Award, but nearly all of them started out as character actors. Here they are allowed (one suspects encouraged) to go a step back to their more modest roots while performing at the top of their game. This lower key approach is a good thing. Another bombastic effort like In The Bedroom, House of Sand and Fog or this years Reservation Road is not doing the Hollywood prestige- film any favours. This type of change of perspective and perfectly balanced execution is quite refreshing.