Review of Homicide: The Movie (2000) by Bryan W — 19 Feb 2011

Like the best of Mamet's work, this film is often hard to categorize but for its place in the crime drama canon, and the film is so much stronger for this complexity.

Though the fact that Mantegna looks so Italian may at first seem to be an impediment to the idea that the impetus for the the plot is reliant on his Jewishness, it only further underscores the possibility of a few minor instances boiling our roots in culture and society to the surface. In one of the small, great moments in film history, the hard-boiled Mantegna is humbled beyond the ability to apologize, and what first appears to be guilt is quickly revealed as unparalleled motivation.

Watching the story get more complex is most of the fun, so I can't go into too much detail, but rest assured, what lies within crosses styles in a purely refreshing manner, giving the film the buoyancy of a Scorcese crime film and the unpredictability of Lynch's best work. While it narrowly escapes a 'must-see' status, it's no less important to people who can't stand watching cookie cutter films churned out every decade.