By Kimberly Suchinlito

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Sidney Lumet’s latest film, delivers in drama hand over fist. The film quickly sets the stage and the circumstances that eventually have their tragic domino effect on our characters lives. Within the first few minutes of the film we learn that Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has convinced his younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) to rob their parent’s jewelry store. The brother’s relationship is rocky at best, with Andy as the successful businessman and Hank as the pathetic poor divorce. They both desperately need money, as Andy has a drug problem and Hank is behind in his child support payments.

Musically, there was a pleasant surprise with Carter Burwell composing. Burwell continues to produce relevant emotionally charged music to accompany film. His style, unmistakable in BDKYD, revisits strong undertones from his work on Conspiracy Theory (1996). Ron Fortunato headed up cinematography, shooting on digital. Digital is an emerging and popular trend but ultimately a risky move. Its distinct patina can be off putting to the audience and for some ruin their suspension of disbelief. In this case they managed the media well, keeping their footage warm and well balanced.

The performances were excellent across the board in this all star cast. Some of the films best moments lie in the brothers’ conversations leading up the robbery. Hoffman and Hawke deliver their dialogue with ease; their relationship feels as real as it is painful. Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris play Charles and Nanette, Andy and Hank’s upper middle class parents. Finney gives a commanding and ultimately chilling performance; do not expect to see the same charming, yarn-spinning father figure of Big Fish. Gina (Marisa Tomei), Andy’s trophy wife, acts as the object of desire for both brothers. Not surprisingly, this causes an additional rift between the two. Gina’s character is as simple as she is attention-starved, a materialistic dress up doll. This is not to downplay Tomei’s performance, which was more substantial than her character’s personality.

The story’s structure does not do credit to the strong performances and well-written dialogue. The film abruptly flashes forward and backward in time breaking the magic of the characters’ interactions. Multi protagonist creative timeline dramas—such as Memento, Crash, or Babel—have grown in popularity. Instead of making the plotline more dynamic, the ineffective use of this devise ultimately broke the film’s flow.

Full of unapologetic turmoil and betrayal, BDKYD leaves you raw. The question it raises is: to what end? The message of the film was either poorly communicated or well hidden beneath a plot which, as it unfolded, became more like drama for drama’s sake. As everyday people are drawn into a dance of destruction, the contrast becomes ever more severe. The whole world seems to be tumbling down on our protagonists. As things become worse, however, moments of humor—some more intentional than others—become more frequent. Attribute this to the unsympathetic nature of every character is in this film, with the exception of the mother. The antihero is a well-loved figure in cinema, but this film has none. Everyone seems ultimately corrupt, devoid of morality, or possessing a black heart. The message of the film could be just this: that all human beings have the potential to destroy one another. That deep down inside, we all care the most about money, sex, or power, and that under the right circumstances we will choose them over everything else.