From a screenplay by Charlie Huston and based on his 2004 novel of same name (the first in the Henry Thompson series), crime thriller is scored by Ron Simonsen (recorded by Idles) and directed by Darren Aronofsky, in his first film since The Whale.
Austin Butler - Henry "Hank" Thompson
Regina King - Detective Elise Roman
Zoë Kravitz - Yvonne
Matt Smith - Russell Miner
Liev Schreiber - Lipa Drucker
Vincent D'Onofrio - Shmully Drucker
Benito Martínez Ocasio - Colorado
Summary
1998
Lower East Side
4 in the morning...
New York City.
Former San Francisco Giants baseball player Henry "Hank" Thompson continues to be haunted by a drunken car crash which killed his fellow teammate Dale Williams.
After Hank's friend Russ (sporting a magnificent mohawk) leaves his cat Buddy before he departs for London to see his sick father, Russian mobsters Aleksei and Pavel viciously beat Hank up when he refuses to give up Russ's whereabouts, resulting in him losing a kidney.
We're told Russ is a drug dealer, connected to notorious Hasidic brothers Lipa and Shmully Drucker.
Hank finds a mysterious key hidden inside Buddy's litter tray, and his girlfriend Yvonne is subsequently shot dead off-screen.
When Hank confides in corrupt cop Dt. Elise Roman (who owes the Russians serious cash), a deadly struggle for survival in the criminal underworld begins.
Scary monsters
Considering director usually swims in the river of surreal psychological horror, this was a hugely enjoyable swerve.
Action and gunplay are complemented by some dark humour and great performances.
An interesting thing to note.
The combination to Paul's safe is 111564. Whether intentional or not, November 15 1964 is the day after the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. Event is seen as a significant date in the history of baseball.
Story impressively twists and turns, with nobody really gaining the advantage until Hank at the end.
The Druckers gun down Roman and agree to give Hank a cut of the $4m for services rendered.
En route, Hank notices that Lipa has Vyonne's lighter, implying they killed her. As he's the only one wearing a seatbelt, Hank purposely crashes at high speed, killing the brothers.
At some point later, Hank adopts Russ's identity and escapes to Tulum with half the loot.
Shortly after end credits roll, his mum (Laura Dern) receives the balance of cash darling son sent in a suitcase, amusingly exclaiming: "FUCK!"
Ignoring swear, ending is identical in principle to Trainspotting.
No comments:
Post a Comment