Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” makes its tragic trajectory clear from the start. And it gives away the linchpin of the story – the botched robbery of a small jewelry store – in the first reel. But Sidney Lumet’s movie is still compelling in a nasty sort of way, because the seemingly ageless director and his brilliant lead actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, dissect troubled souls with surgical precision. By getting the robbery out of the way early and messing with the timeline, Lumet begins with the superficial action and then reveals the depth of emotion behind it. Hawke’s abject panic and despair as he drives away from the crime scene is just a hint of what’s to come. Hoffman and Hawke play Andy and Hank Hanson, brothers who work in commercial real estate in Manhattan. Andy, the elder, appears to be the more successful. But while he’s relieving stress by shooting up heroin, Hank is having an affair with Andy’s wife. Marisa Tomei plays the part with avid sensuality and a poignant yearning for affection. The brothers are desperate, too, and Lumet keeps digging for the source. We come to understand where the cunning Andy gets the idea to rob a mom-and-pop store – the one owned by their actual mom and pop. And we cringe as the truly pathetic Hank agrees to carry it out, enlisting a goon played with scary conviction by Brian F. O’Byrne. “Before the Devil Knows Your Dead” shows how one’s moral compass can lose its bearings. It sympathizes but doesn’t forgive.