Review of Live by Night (2016) by Celestial91 — 15 Sep 2021

A dark, violent film but fascinating.

Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck, who also wrote and directed) is Tom the police chief's son (Brendan Gleeson) in 20's Beantown. Nevertheless, he prefers the life of crime himself. He and his co-horts rob banks and poker games, upsetting his papa greatly. Love, however, remains strong between the two. Moreover, Joe is small peanuts in a town run by two mob leaders, one an Irishman and the other Italian. As fate would have it, Joe falls for the Irish mobster's "moll", Emma (Sienna Miller) and begins a clandestine affair, knowing the consequences if Boss Albert finds out. Joe daydreams so much about Emma that on a routine bank heist, his foggy mind upsets the apple cart. This leads to a police chase and fiery crash; Joe escapes, the cops do not. Albert IS looking for Joe, for he knows the score now, but doesn't get there before Tom arrives. Pulling strings, Tom gets Joe a very light sentence of three years. Wow. When he gets out, Joe doesn't know where Emma is, believing her to be dead, and decides to "relocate" to Tampa Florida, working for the Italian Boston Boss. He does this because the Irishman is worming his way into bootlegging and gambling down south, too, in Miami. Once there, Joe does a fabulous job, working with Cubans including lovely Graciela (Zoe Saldana). The straight-laced police chief, Figgis looks the other way and has a beautiful daughter, Loretta (Elle Fanning) who is off the star in Hollywood. But, what happens when the Italian mobster begins to believe Joe is weak and not into "killing" anymore? What about Albert, is he still looking for Joe? This very fine movie has great performances, many twists and turns, gorgeous sets, fabulous costumes, and a style that dazzles. Who can we thank? Why, first, Affleck who stars, writes, and directs and Dennis Lehane, whose novel came first. Purists may want to know that the ending of the film is different from the book while those who detest violence won't want to watch it. Even so, the violence is not pervasive and the story too good too miss. So, movie fan, don't skip it.