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Starring Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by Sidney Lumet
“The world is an evil place, Charlie.” As perpetrated by ordinary people, evil is given a bold face in Lumet’s riveting thriller – a little because of the innocents it takes down, a lot because of its unlikely source.
It’s the stuff of tabloid news: an older woman is tragically killed when her store is held-up.
The back-story is one that never makes the papers, and one that holds our shock, outrage and dismay.
Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is a character-study so gruelling, a morality tale so excruciating, and a thriller so captivating that it leaves its contemporaries for dead.
Lumet frames Devil and its MacGuffin in a layered time structure that commands attention while the principles go about their exhilarating job.
Leading is Hoffman and Hawke as two money-troubled brothers with a plan that couldn’t possibly go wrong.
Of course, it does, forcing them to frantically dig their way out of trouble – a vain hope that will bring their entire family down with them.
Corruption, drugs and infidelity play their hand yet Devil is, foremost, a mind-bending study of evil.
Lumet has not been as consistent as his contemporaries over the years, but when firing, he’s unbeatable.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is one of this year’s best films.
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