ellen_datlow: (Default)
ellen_datlow ([personal profile] ellen_datlow) wrote2007-11-30 12:02 am

The best suspense/horror movie of the year

I just came back from seeing a movie that blew me away. It had me on the edge of my seat from the first scene and never let me go--suspense verging on horror. It's Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and it's really impressive. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke brilliantly play two brothers, both desperately in need of money. They decide to rob a jewelry store and everything goes wrong. By the end of the movie you realize that things were very wrong from wayyyy back before the robbery.

Although the cinematography is nothing special, the script is. The screenplay was written by a newcomer, Kelly Masterson, who seems to have no previous screen writing credits. According to Wikipedia he tried to get the screenplay made for seven years before Lumet took a chance. It's paid out. Grim grim grim. Run out and see it before it disappears.

(Anonymous) 2007-11-30 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
Riveting. Like watching a fatal accident occure. I wanted to turn away but couldn't stop staring.

Rick Bowes

[identity profile] eleanor.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
It's on the top of my list. I've seen so much grim lately that I do need a dose of sunshine and kitten -- do you have any interest in seeing Enchantment?

[identity profile] lonesome-crow.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 01:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Grim always sounds good to me. Thanks for the rec.