Review of Miller's Crossing (1990) by Matthew W — 03 Jan 2009

Coen genre-defining at its best. Full of completely made-up lingo that somehow doesn't seem out of place in a film set in the 20s. Gabriel Byrne is the pure essence of cool, conflicted, weak in many ways and yet you just want him to come good and succeed.

And he does, eventually, but by waving bye-bye to his fundamental sense of human decency. Bogart himself couldn't have portrayed it better. A masterpiece.