Review of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) by Brendan F — 09 Nov 2009

Outstanding return to form for one of my favorite directors. Sidney is obviously and old timer director and it takes him a while to tell his story, but it's a strong story about family dysfunction. Some people are more desperate than others to escape the grind of the tough working life.

If your the kind of person that needs to have people to root for you will probably not like this movie. The characters are all heavily flawed, but that's not a problem for me. It's a complex world we live in and this is fairly simple, but also a complex movie at the same time. It's a real treat from a director that really hasn't made anything that had inspired me as of late.

All the characters deliver good performances. Yeah, the drama does push the brink of going overboard on a couple of occasions, and the the style can confuse some, but once you get a hang on this film it's a very intriguing drama. One of my favorite movies of 2007.