Review of The Drop (2014) by Devilmath — 26 Sep 2015

It’s widely known that The Drop marks James Gandolfini’s final appearance in a film. The late Sopranos star passed away more than one year ago, leaving a huge void in the acting universe. His talent is yet again celebrated in this dark tale of mobsters, omertà, violence and last chances of redemption. The Drop is adapted from a short story by novelist Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the screenplay; similarities with Lehane’s previous novels (“Mystic River”, “Gone Baby Gone”, “Shutter Island”) are easy to spot, and shouldn’t come as a surprise. With Michael Roskam signed as director after his Oscar nominated debut Bullhead, and Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Matthias Schoenaerts completing the cast, The Drop is a very promising concentrate of talent.

Lehane’s original story, “Animal Rescue”, takes place in Boston, but the producers decided to move The Drop to a less hackneyed location. They eventually settled on Brooklyn, instructing cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis to create a “Martin Scorsese meets Frank Capra feeling”. The result is a small-town, traditional, albeit often shoddy-looking environment; the perfect place for Bob (Hardy) and Marv’s (Gandolfini) bar. Bob is the silent bartender and his cousin Marv is the old-style administrator; they run the business for the Chechen mob, who often uses the bar as a “drop”, a hideout and collection point for bookies’ money. When two masked thugs break in after closing time, and rob the cousins at gunpoint, Marv speaks everyone’s mind by asking “do you know whose money you are taking?”. The events unfold in what seems to be a linear, almost predictable pattern, until Bob finds an abandoned puppy outside of Nadia’s (Rapace) house, and the two of them decide to adopt it. This is when things take an unanticipable turn for the worst.

Since opening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, The Drop has premiered around the world, eventually landing at the 2014 London Film Festival; it’s one of the most relevant titles listed in this edition, and one of the most anticipated features of the year. A lot of the attention is probably due to the presence of Gandolfini, who performs admirably as Marv: the old-timer who regrets having sold the bar off to foreign mobsters, a pathetic wretch whose glory has faded out. Tom Hardy, on the other hand, is even more compelling as Bob, the shifty loner. He seems completely harmlessat first sight, but deep down he’s very dangerous, and Hardy manages to convey his personality while keeping an emotionless façade at the same time. Gandolfini and Hardy support each other in an almost effortless act, and give a bold, distinguished tone to the film. Whereas the plot is sometimes flimsy, possibly due to the limits of adapting a short story, The Drop stands succesfully as a deep, engaging and entertaining piece of cinema.