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Preview by: Jack Foley
"PEOPLE ask me what 25th Hour is about and I say,
'Edward Norton plays a drug dealer who spends his last 24 hours
of freedom in post-9/11 New York City..." - director,
Spike Lee.
The clock is ticking on Monty Brogan's freedom - in 24 hours,
he goes to prison for seven years. Once a king of Manhattan, Monty
(Edward Norton) is about to say goodbye to the life he knew -
a life that opened doors to New York's best clubs, but also alienated
him from the people closest to him.
In his last day on the outside, Monty tries to reconnect with
his father (Brian Cox), who's never given up on his son, and gets
together with his closest two friends from the old school days,
Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an angst-ridden teacher who harbors
a crush on one of his pupils, and Slaughtery (Barry Pepper), a
Wall Street whizz who likes to take risks and talk straight.
Thrown into the mix is his girlfriend, Naturelle (Rosario Dawson),
who might (or might not) have been the one that tipped off the
cops.
Monty's unsure of much nowadays, but with prison approaching,
there are some important choices to be made and some questions
that just need answering...
Great premise, great cast, superb film. Spike Lee's 25th Hour
is cinema at its rawest and finest, no doubt boosted by a terrific
cast, but gripping viewing, nonetheless. Set in a post-9/11 New
York City, the film is packed with moral complexities, pulling
viewers this way and that as they attempt to gain some understanding
of the choices made by Monty and his friends during the course
of their lives.
It is due to be released in the UK on April 25 and should not
be missed by any fans of performance-driven cinema (Indielondon
will deliver its verdict around the same time).
The idea for the film originated with David Benioff's acclaimed
novel, published in 2001, who subsequently adapted it into a screenplay
for Spike Lee and co. And despite the fact that its central character
is an unsavoury drug dealer, Lee wasn't fazed at all.
"I don't choose which films to direct based on how sympathetic
the characters are," he said. "Monty Brogan is a drug
dealer - and people will find that unsympathetic. But a lot of
times, unsympathetic characters make the best movies, and the
best stories. That's how I choose my projects - I choose stories
that are interesting to me."
The same applies to Norton, who was drawn to the emotional pull
of the film. "Monty is a drug dealer, but he is not necessarily
a bad person," he explains. "He and his family and friends
have complicated, mixed feelings about each other and about the
choice's he's made. To me, the script felt like real life, which
is rare...
"This is a story that explores themes that people will be
familiar with. We all have friendships that are based on past
history, but perhaps have lost a strong connection in the present.
Sometimes you sit down with someone you have known for a long
time and think, 'If I met you now, we would not be friends'.
"But history between you binds you. The script explores the
way that friendships can devolve, cruising on past history despite
resentments that have grown and not been expressed and the way
that people can diverge without acknowledging it."
25th Hour co-star, Barry Pepper, was also drawn to the emotions
on show, which tip-toe a fine line between love and hate. He explains:
"These are basic emotions that all friends deal with. There
are always elements of jealousy or a desire for what the other
has, and I think that those are very present within our friendship.
"So, there are definitely a lot of turbulent emotions throughout
the film, but I think hate is far too strong a word for any of
the emotions that they feel for one another. I think love is a
much more resounding theme, because they realise in the end that
they love each other like brothers, but they despise some of the
choices each other have made in life, and wish that it could be
like when they were kids."
The other element explored in the film is New York City itself
- a city still attempting to come to terms with its own injuries,
post 9/11.
Spike Lee wanted to include it because he felt that it would have
been 'irresponsible as artists' if we shot the film in New York
City and people were walking around like 9/11 never happened.
"When you watch this film, you see that it's definitely a
post-9/11 NYC," explains Lee. "We didn't have the mentality
that we couldn't talk about it. This was something that happened,
and I think it should be acknowledged."
Adds Pepper: "There is a picture window that overlooks the
Ground Zero site. I could see that entire site with all the bulldozers
and men working and it was all lit up. It was just an awesome
sight and it is just this powerful moment that is there for the
audience to absorb. It is so current with what we are dealing
with globally."
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What the US critics had to say...
The critical reaction from American critics was generally positive,
with many hailing it to be Spike Lee's finest film in years. Entertainment
Weekly, for instance, awarded it a B+ and said that 'Lee,
as he did in Malcolm X and Clockers, makes his hero's dread palpable,
and though 25th Hour lacks the glittering brilliance of those
films, I was held by the toughness and pity of Lee's gaze'.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, declared that 'Lee has
created that rarity in filmmaking: a movie we need, right now',
while Variety wrote that this 'character-driven pic provides
strong opportunities for a fine ensemble of actors and for Lee,
maintaining his signature style, to depart from his regular ethnic
territory ... and to deliver one of his more interesting recent
films'.
The New York Times, meanwhile, felt that 'if 25th Hour
does not quite work as a plausible and coherent story, it produces
a wrenching, dazzling succession of moods'.
Rolling Stone declared that 'Lee is firing on all cylinders,
and the actors match his energy', while the Chicago Tribune hailed
it 'a superb film'.
EFilmcritic.com, meanwhile, said that it was 'without question,
the very best film of 2002, and Spike Lee's best film to date.
Includes a sequence that should and will go down in cinematic
history'.
The New York Observer urged readers to 'see it for Edward
Norton, who does his usual job of turning sackcloth into satin',
while the New York Post felt that it was 'Spike's best
since Do the Right Thing'.
Less positive, however, was Hollywood Reporter, which felt
that 'the story line is flaccid and episodic, the direction lacks
vitality, and the observations are mundane', while the Los
Angeles Times went one worse, opining that 'there are two
films at war in director Spike Lee's newest feature, 25th Hour,
one uninteresting, the other an epic of near-tragic miscalculation'.
But in the main, the word was generally good (and deservedly so),
with the San Francisco Chronicle concluding this round
up by declaring it to be 'the first great 21st Century movie about
a 21st Century subject'.
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