In his opening paragraph, Roger Ebert writes, Sidney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is such a superb crime melodrama that I almost want to leave it at that. To just stop writing right now and advise you to go out and see it as soon as you can. I so much want to avoid revealing plot points that I don’t even want to risk my usual strategy of oblique hints. You deserve to walk into this one cold.
It’s ironic I read this review after seeing the film, for I surely walked into this one cold.
About three hours ago, while deciding whether to stay in the night or head out somewhere, I saw that the Newburyport Screening Room, a small one-screen theater located around the corner from my apartment, was premiering this Lumet film.
Five minutes later, after seeing the film starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei, and only seeing the keyword, “robbery,” I grabbed my coat, threw on sneakers, and headed out. I love being spontaneous, for it always surprises me.
I don’t get to the Screening Room as often as I should; it’s affordable at $7 a pop, and the films, while second-run, are those I usually miss in the big-screen theaters or never heard of before, such as this one.
Wow, I’m still in shock, this was such a cool film.
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