Dir. Sidney Lumet · United Kingdom, United States of America · English
Stressful and sublime, Sidney Lumet’s last hurrah follows two desperate brothers as they fall down a dark path of greed and violence
2007 Movie Crime, Drama, Thriller
Our take
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is Sidney Lumet’s last film, and in many ways, it distills what the director explored in his prolific body of work: What is justice? And does everyone deserve it? Shot digitally at a time when the concept was still quite new, Before the Devil moves fast and takes us uncomfortably close to the lives of three desperate men: cash-strapped Hank (Hawke), corrupt Andy (Seymour-Hoffman), and vengeful Charles (Finney). The same tragic events unfold through their perspectives, but in any case, we get to see what drives them to do such horrid things. Are we suppose to sympathize with them? It’s a question that will nag you long after the credits roll.
What it won
Spirit Awards
2 noms
LAFCA
1 win
The story
When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that send them and their family hurtling towards a shattering climax.
Elsewhere
"[A] furious and entertaining little morality play."
— David Denby
"[Sidney Lumet's] touch in Before the Devil is so sure, so perfectly weighted, that it's hard to imagine him capable of making a bad movie."
— David Edelstein
Desperate for money, Hank (Ethan Hawke) and Andy (Philip Seymour-Hoffman) decide to rob their parents’ jewelry store. But when things go rogue, they—along with father Charles (Albert Finney)—descend into madness.
Seymour-Hoffman. When he explodes it’s like no one else.
How can a film be anything other than great when it’s starring the late, great, and utterly terrifying Philip Seymour-Hoffman?
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Renee Cuisia is the lead curator at A Good Movie to Watch. In her spare time, she likes to watch K-dramas and analyze them to death. She's also seen You've Got Mail one too many times but is still convinced it's one of the greatest films out there.
