Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

Star Review

Of the many revelations in this remarkable heist movie, the first is its director: 83-year-old Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon), displaying more vigour than most filmmakers half his age. The next is that those behind the heist are outwardly respectable middle-class brothers Hank (Ethan Hawke) and Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The third is that the jewellery store the siblings target belongs to their parents (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris), the spoils thereby serving as an advance upon any inheritance, and payback for years of neglect.

Lumet handles each subsequent development with the surest of hands, injecting black wit and pauses for thought where required, and confirming his reputation as a superb director of actors. A colossal Hoffman suggests monstrous appetites; Marisa Tomei is quietly breathtaking; Finney delivers his most persuasive work in decades. Overlooked during awards season, this is nevertheless one of 2008’s true masterpieces: a work of consummate craftsmanship that grabs your attention from the startling first frames only to reveal its full magnificence to you gradually.

MIke McCahill on 6th May 2008

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Film Description

The new film from legendary director, Sidney Lumet is a triumphant return to form. Brothers Hank (Ethan Hawk) and Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are down on their luck, and hatch a plot to rob a mom and pop jewellery store. Only the mom and pop in question... are theirs!

When the robbery goes awry, the family patriarch, Charles (Albery Finney) is determined to hunt down whoever is responsible. Quoth the Irish Proverb: "May you have food and raiment, a soft pillow for your head; may you be forty years in heaven, before the devil knows you're dead".

But Hank and Andy's misdeeds are about to catch up with them sooner than they think...

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Blu-Ray: Extras

• Making-of documentary
• Trailer

Film Details

Cast

Albert Finney, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman

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