25TH HOUR ---------
Monty Brogan (Edward Norton, "Red Dragon") is a great guy and a scrapper, just like the horribly abused dog he saves and names Doyle as the film begins. His friends, Slaughtery (Barry Pepper, "Knockaround Guys") and Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Red Dragon") love him dearly, but regret having allowed him to become successful - as a drug dealer. Slaughtery also suspects Monty's loving girlfriend, Naturelle (Rosario Dawson, "Men in Black II"), for having blown the whistle that resulted in a seven year jail term, and makes Monty begin to doubt Naturelle himself. On his last day of freedom, Monty contemplates the "25th Hour."
Novelist David Benioff adapts his novel about the 'what might have been' of Monty Brogan's life and director Spike Lee uses September 11 to add a parallel for the city Brogan's spent it in in their joint melancholy reflection. A tour de force of ensemble acting, "25th Hour" explores the responsibilities of relationships.
Brogan spends his last day preparing for a party that Kostya (Tony Siragusa, HBO's "Inside the NFL") insists he must attend at Uncle Nikolai's club. He visits Jacob at his job teaching teenagers, rounds up Slaughtery and asks Naturelle to wear her silver dress. He has dinner with his widowed dad (Brian Cox, "The Ring") at the bar his dad owns (and now rues having saved with his son's drug money), then heads with his friends to the club owned by the Brighton Beach Russian gangsters who supplied his merchandise. Monty and his friends will each have a revelation during their night of decadent partying with the oldest relationship undergoing the most strenuous test.
Benioff establishes male friendships in the present, while building the background of Monty and Naturelle in flashbacks. We see Slaughtery on the job as a successful trader while Jacob sweats resisting the charms of student Mary D'Annuzio (Anna Paquin, "X-Men"). Monty's own narration fills in the gaps about his father 'with his endless grief' and the city he grew up in, a bigoted soliloquy played to a shaving mirror.
Nikolai's club is an exclusive joint and Jacob is alarmed when Mary spies him and begs for his influence in getting her in. Monty laughs it off and includes her, and soon the group is ensconced in a private booth drinking champagne. As true feelings are made known and alternate plans made for Monty, dawn and dad appear to take Monty into incarceration or...
Spike Lee adds to Benioff's story by making New York City a true character in his ensemble. The film opens with the twin laser lights which memorialized
the 6th month since 9/11 also symbolizing hope and redemption in Monty's future, just as the excavation at ground zero below Slaughtery's apartment can
be seen as a reflection of the guilt he feels over his friend's wrong turn. Lee represents all the boroughs of New York City and when Brogans Jr. and Sr. cross its boundary, it allows Monty's dad to conjecture an alternate reality.
Norton leads the ensemble as a man whose bravado gives way to fear and doubt as his hours slip by. His initial confidence is lost, but restored somewhat by love. He's a natural charmer who coasted on the easy life of the streets until his luck ran out. The underrated Barry Pepper is a dynamo as Brogan's oldest friend who alternately envies his lifestyle and feels guilty about it. Pepper projects this expertly in the way he lashes out at Naturelle, who clearly he admires. The ubiquitous Seymour Hoffman is the nice guy underachiever - Pepper's opposite (the two are hilarious together when Pepper presents his percentage theory on men's success with woman, putting Jacob in the 62nd percentile). Jacob's conundrum with Mary is beautifully played by both. Hoffman is a sweating mess of anxiety while Paquin makes Mary old enough to use her sex appeal on Jacob but too young to deal with it when she gets results. Dawson gives Naturelle a lovely dignity and concern, yet she also must look inward when Slaughtery's accusations cut deep. Cox embodies Monty's earlier characterization of him. NFL player Tony Siragusa is a natural as the hearty Russian bodyguard who mangles English phrases.
Director of Photography Rodrigo Prieto is no stranger to capturing gritty city street life, as evidenced by "Amores Perros" and "8 Mile." His crisp blue-black nighttime shots make one feel the bight in the air, while his colorful flashbacks give a warmth to a blossoming love affair. Lee, working with Prieto for the first time, finally makes his signature dolly shots work in context, with one of Paquin dancing on ecstasy juxtaposed with another of Jacob in a stupor.
In "25th Hour" we spend 24 hours with a man at a crossroads. When he passes, his life is as of the ashes left in the air of lower Manhattan.
B+
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com robin@reelingreviews.com
========== X-RAMR-ID: 33818 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 830492 X-RT-TitleID: 1119014 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1487 X-RT-RatingText: B+
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews