Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Brian F. O’Byrne, Michael Shannon, Leonardo Cimino, Amy Ryan, Aleksa Palladino, Rosemary Harris, Sarah Livingston. [R]

Fatalistic crime drama affecting amoral, drug-addicted executive Hoffman, his weak-willed and irresponsible brother (Hawke), and the rest of their immediate family, after a robbery (schemed by Hoffman, carried out by Hawke and O’Byrne) goes bad and leads to a series of grievous consequences. Strong cast makes a disagreeable group of people all too vivid and real; story is told in a non-linear fashion with alternating perspectives, but it never becomes confusing, and director Lumet’s somber palette and his attention to the emotional detail in the aftermath (instead of just relying on clockwork story incidents) brings unexpected depth to its familiar, dour features. Contains some artificial plot devices, such as Hawke happening to be having an affair with his brother’s wife (Tomei), and the pile-up of improbable horrors at the end negates some of the raw, anguished power that preceded it, but still a cut above the bleak competition. Screenplay by Kelly Masterson; Lumet’s final film.

79/100