Review of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) by Christopher M — 13 May 2010

-a family/crime melodrama: heightened sense of emotion, story drives the characters.

-although overdone in parts, film did a great job of conveying desperation.

-Roller-coaster ride of a movie; of emotions.

-non linear storytelling, flashbacks and flash-forwards draw attention to themselves-viewer becomes aware of how the plot is being revealed as opposed to being fully caught up in it.

-The movie does not always maintain proper balance between the two.

-Says money can give yourself value, but also boosts others opinion of you: Hawke needs money to lose his "loser status" in the eyes of his ex-wife and daughter.

-You see the great lengths people will go to keep themselves afloat-you cannot survive without money.

-The film takes you into the desperation of the characters and you feel their torment and emotional disconnection.

-By the end, it's impossible not to feel emotionally drained; it's such a depressing trip.

-the real appreciation for this movie comes from the understanding that life can be straining.

-You'd have to live in a bubble, with no real concept of life's hardships to dismiss this movie as whatever-it does have a tremendous impact.

-suspenseful: climax: deconstruction of Hoffman's character, evolution of Hawke.

Bookends: opens with Hoffman's character in Rio talking with his wife about the cost of happiness---being away. Ends with audience still anticipating Hoffman's extradition (grabs passport) to Rio with his wife (who just packed her bags), but he is killed by his father in a hospital room-given the circumstances the film presents, it is an unexpected, yet entirely appropriate conclusion.

-Arendt on Eichmann: "banality of evil"-Eichmann was not inherently evil, but did evil things because he felt a need to better the premise of his state (Germany)--a certain loyalty that meant abiding by the rules of the state, no matter how heinous.

-In Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, none of the characters are evil but out of desperation do evil things because they are motivated by need for money.

-Moral: Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but never at the expense of family.

-Don't use the weaknesses of others to further your agenda.

-Crime committed out of desperation can result in criminal ineptitude.

-Film works as a Shakespearean tragedy; throughout the film the characters slowly weave their own web of destruction and by the end, it all comes crashing down-it's pure theatre.