Jump to content

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 64.252.34.115 (talk) at 03:26, 25 August 2010 (→‎Plot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySidney Lumet
Written byKelly Masterson
Produced byMichael Cerenzie
Brian Linse
William S. Gilmore
Paul Parmar
StarringPhilip Seymour Hoffman
Ethan Hawke
Albert Finney
Marisa Tomei
Rosemary Harris
Amy Ryan
CinematographyRon Fortunato
Edited byTom Swartwout
Music byCarter Burwell
Distributed byTHINKFilm
Release date
October 26, 2007
Running time
123 min.
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18,000,000[citation needed]
Box office$25,005,257

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a 2007 crime drama written by Kelly Masterson and directed by Sidney Lumet. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. The title comes from the Irish saying: "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead." The film is told in non-linear time, repeatedly going back and forth in time. Some scenes are shown from various points of view.

Plot

Note: The story is explained here in its chronological order, rather than the way it unfolds in the film.

Andy Hanson (Hoffman) is a finance executive who, facing an upcoming audit, is in desperate need of money to cover funds he embezzled from his employer. His brother Hank (Hawke) needs money to pay child support and his daughter's private school tuition. Meanwhile, Hank has been having a long-standing affair with Gina (Marisa Tomei), who has been unsatisfied with her relationship with Andy.

Andy devises a plan to rob their parents' jewelry store, which Hank reluctantly agrees to. Andy argues that he cannot go himself because he has been in the neighborhood recently, and could therefore be recognized. They assume that only Doris, an elderly woman who works for their parents, will be in the store. Andy states that only a toy gun is needed and that it is a victimless crime, because insurance will repay their parents for the stolen items. Andy plans to fence the jewelry via a New York City dealer his father knows, and expects to net about $120,000 from the robbery.

Without consulting Andy, Hank hires Bobby Lasorda (Brian F. O'Byrne), an acquaintance who is an experienced thief, to help him in the robbery. Bobby decides he will commit the robbery himself using a gun; Hank just needs to wait in the car. The brothers' mother Nanette (Rosemary Harris) happens to be in the store filling in for Doris. The robbery goes awry when Nanette pulls a hidden gun on Bobby, causing a shootout; Bobby dies on the scene, and Nanette falls into a coma, dying a week later in the hospital after her husband Charles (Finney) agrees to take her off life support. Charles, unsatisfied with the police's help, decides to investigate on his own, and he becomes obsessed with finding information about the crime and others involved in it.

Afterwards, Hank is confronted by Bobby's brother-in-law Dex (Michael Shannon) who demands financial compensation for Bobby's death to provide for his sister, Chris (Aleksa Palladino), Bobby's widow.

Meanwhile, while Andy is away from work dealing with his mother's death, his superiors at work repeatedly try to contact him regarding irregularities in his department's accounts that have been revealed by the audit. Andy avoids this issue, while attempting to help Hank deal with Dex's blackmail attempt. When Gina reveals her affair with Hank to Andy as she is leaving him, Andy is too preoccupied with Hank and covering up his involvement in the crime to object.

Charles, searching for information about the robbery, visits a jeweler in New York City that he knows fences stolen goods -- the same one Andy visited earlier. After an acrimonious exchange that indicates they have known and disliked each other for decades, the jeweler hands Andy's business card to Charles, revealing to Charles that Andy came to him looking to fence the jewels. Charles immediately goes looking for Andy.

At this time, Andy decides to resolve the blackmail situation with Hank by robbing a heroin dealer that he frequents. At the dealer's apartment, Andy and Hank overpower the dealer and steal his money. Hank is shocked when Andy kills the dealer and a client who happened to be present. The brothers then go to pay off Dex, but Andy impulsively kills him for fear of blackmailing them further. Andy appears ready to kill Chris (Bobby's wife) when Hank objects. Andy turns the gun on Hank, revealing that he knows about Hank and Gina's relationship. Hank begs Andy to kill him, but Andy hesitates. As Andy pauses over whether to shoot his brother, Chris shoots Andy with her brother's gun, wounding him. Hank leaves his brother and guiltily leaves some of the money behind for Chris before fleeing with the money, drugs and paraphernalia they robbed from the heroin dealer.

Charles, having seen Andy leaving his apartment tower when he went looking for him, followed Andy as he went to Hank's apartment, to Chris', and finally to the hospital where the paramedics took his wounded son. Andy breaks down and he vulnerably apologizes to his estranged father for everything, explaining Nanette's death to be an accident. Charles seemingly accepts his apology. Charles then attaches Andy's heart monitor to himself and apparently suffocates his son to death with a pillow (although paramedics momentarily rush to help Andy and Andy's death is not conformed in the movie). Andy cries out to his father to stop but in his weakened condition he is over-powered. As medical staff rush to Andy's aid, Charles leaves.

Cast

Production

Lumet made the decision to shoot Before the Devil Knows You're Dead on high definition video after experimenting with the format on the television series 100 Centre Street. At a press conference at the 2007 New York Film Festival, Lumet called shooting on film "a pain in the ass," and predicted that as soon as distributors and exhibitors could agree on a digital projection format, photographic film would be rendered obsolete.[1] Filming of the primary robbery scene in the film took place at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Bayside in Queens, New York.[2]

The scenes where Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) uses heroin were filmed in an apartment on a high floor on the southwest corner of Trump World Tower. This can be deduced from the location and angle of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State building seen through the window.

The scenes where Hank Hanson (Ethan Hawke) is changing in the gas station and using the payphone to call Andy (Hoffman) were filmed on South Broadway in Yonkers, New York.

The climactic scene of the film where Andy Hanson (Hoffman) is shot was filmed on West 45th St. between 9th and 10th avenues.

Release

The film premiered on September 6, 2007 at the Deauville Festival of American Cinema in France.[3] It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2007.[3] It opened in France on September 26, 2007.[3] The film made its American debut on October 12, 2007 at the New York Film Festival.[3]

Critical reception

The film received very positive reviews from critics. As of January 18, 2008 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 135 reviews.[4] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 84 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.[5]

Time magazine's Richard Schickel named the film one of the top 10 films of 2007, ranking it at #3, saying "At one level the movie is a wonderfully intricate exploration of family dysfunction. At another, it's a coolly controlled examination of increasingly insane criminal ineptitude. Either way you look at it, this is a hypnotizing film from one of our great masters."[6] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, calling it "superb" and its director, Sidney Lumet, a "living treasure."[7]

Top 10 lists

The film appeared on many critics' top 10 lists of the best films of 2007.[8]

Box office

The film opened in limited release in the United States on October 26, 2007 in two theaters, grossing $73,837 in its opening weekend.[9] In total, the film grossed over $25 million worldwide.[10]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 15, 2008.

References

  1. ^ "NYFF 2007: Sidney Lumet Joins the Death of Celluloid Brigade"
  2. ^ Bay Terrace Shopping Center retrieved on May 03, 2008
  3. ^ a b c d http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292963/releaseinfo Retrieved 2007-10-30
  4. ^ "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  5. ^ "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  6. ^ The 10 Best Movies (Richard Schickel) - Time
  7. ^ :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (xhtml)
  8. ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  9. ^ "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  10. ^ "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-09-24.

External links


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Before_the_Devil_Knows_You%27re_Dead&oldid=380845811"