By ADAM SHAW, Special to Bootleg Essential Culture
“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead”
“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead”
On DVD April 15
Blood isn’t thicker than water for this family.
“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” follows two brothers, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke), who decide to rob their parents’ jewelry store. However, the robbery takes a tragic turn.
Andy and Hank frantically try to cover up their crime while hiding deeper secrets from one another. Hank is having an affair with Andy’s wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei). Andy is a closet drug addict, which fuels his decision for the robbery in the first place.
Albert Finney plays the father of the family who is determined to find the truth. The events unfold through a disjointed timeline and “Rashomon” style perspective shifts. These techniques are well executed and make for a suspenseful tale of family dysfunction.
“There Will Be Blood”
On DVD April 8
Malcolm X once said, “You show me a capitalist, and I’ll showv you a bloodsucker.” The main character of P.T. Anderson’s latest masterpiece – “There Will Be Blood” – is both.
Daniel Day-Lewis gives an Oscar-winning performance as Daniel Plainview, a callous oil prospector at the turn of the 20th century. Plainview’s cutthroat work “ethic” brings him wealth and insatiable greed. He exploits anyone and anything for profit. He even adopts a son for the sole purpose of a “family man” image.
Plainview is a destructive sociopath. This alienates him from everyone in his life. The film is a masterful study of someone who is not really a man but an empty husk of a man. Plainview’s lonely madness shows us what it is to live without empathy.
“There Will Be Blood” is no doubt one of the most stellar films of the 21st century. You owe it to yourself to see it.
“Juno”
On DVD April 15
Who knew teen pregnancy could be so funny? “Juno” is a cute comedy about growing up and growing out. Juno (Ellen Page) gets an unexpected surprise after a track-star spaz, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), knocks her up.
The baby’s adoptive mother (Jennifer Garner) is bursting with joy about being a mom. Her husband (Jason Bateman) still thinks he’s a 20-something, and when you’re that age a baby really hurts your street cred.
“Juno” has more than maturing teens, a man-child and slang only a 16-year-old would think was cool. It has tenderness.
Juno gets love and support from her world-wise dad and stepmom. Garner’s character has a motherly warmth that lights up her eyes at the thought of children. Juno and Bleeker grow together as they grow up in a way that’s sure to make you go, “Awwww!”
