In Spike Lee's '25th Hour', drug dealer Monty Brogan has been shopped to the Drug Enforcement Agency, and is due to be incarcerated in 24 hours. If he manages to come out the other side of his seven-year sentence alive, he knows his life will never be the same again. The film follows his last day and night of freedom, as he tries to settle accounts with his oldest friends (played by Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman), his wife (Rosario Dawson), his father (Brian Cox) and his Ukrainian suppliers.
'25th Hour' is as defiantly far from Hollywood in its narrative as in its New York setting, flirting with conventional revenge and escape plots only to reject them for something altogether more true to life, just as Monty in the end decides to abandon the American Dream for a much harsher version of American History, where for him there is no future. Edward Norton is cleverly cast as Monty, and allowed to riff off several of his previous screen roles: so when he is interviewed by DEA officers, Norton tries to play all innocent as he did in his first film 'Primal Fear', but fails because this time he's no choirboy; and we have a good idea of what will happen to a pretty boy like him once in prison, because that picture has already been painted graphically in our minds by 'American History X' - and this time he's no neo-nazi thug capable of putting up a fight.
David Benioff's novel, on which '25th Hour' is based, was in fact written before the Twin Towers came down, but like his fellow New Yorker Woody Allen, Spike Lee has always been, amongst other things, the city's unofficial archivist in celluloid, and here the spectre of Ground Zero forms an ever-present visual reference point to haunt the proceedings. Under Lee's direction, this story of life cut short, of unresolved anger, guilt and bitterness, and of the difficulty of saying goodbye, becomes an elegy for post-9/11 New York.
All the performances in '25th Hour' are superb, with those of Edward Norton and Brian Cox especially remarkable. Benioff's script is compelling, and Lee's direction is full of his usual bravura touches without ever distracting from the drama. If I have any criticism at all, it is that I found the characters a little soulless, and it was therefore harder to feel sympathy for them in their plight.
Still, this film confirms Lee's reputation as one of the greatest living directors. Well worth a look.
'25th Hour' is as defiantly far from Hollywood in its narrative as in its New York setting, flirting with conventional revenge and escape plots only to reject them for something altogether more true to life, just as Monty in the end decides to abandon the American Dream for a much harsher version of American History, where for him there is no future. Edward Norton is cleverly cast as Monty, and allowed to riff off several of his previous screen roles: so when he is interviewed by DEA officers, Norton tries to play all innocent as he did in his first film 'Primal Fear', but fails because this time he's no choirboy; and we have a good idea of what will happen to a pretty boy like him once in prison, because that picture has already been painted graphically in our minds by 'American History X' - and this time he's no neo-nazi thug capable of putting up a fight.
David Benioff's novel, on which '25th Hour' is based, was in fact written before the Twin Towers came down, but like his fellow New Yorker Woody Allen, Spike Lee has always been, amongst other things, the city's unofficial archivist in celluloid, and here the spectre of Ground Zero forms an ever-present visual reference point to haunt the proceedings. Under Lee's direction, this story of life cut short, of unresolved anger, guilt and bitterness, and of the difficulty of saying goodbye, becomes an elegy for post-9/11 New York.
All the performances in '25th Hour' are superb, with those of Edward Norton and Brian Cox especially remarkable. Benioff's script is compelling, and Lee's direction is full of his usual bravura touches without ever distracting from the drama. If I have any criticism at all, it is that I found the characters a little soulless, and it was therefore harder to feel sympathy for them in their plight.
Still, this film confirms Lee's reputation as one of the greatest living directors. Well worth a look.