Crime

Drama

Thriller

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Michael Cerenzie Productions

Capitol Films

Linsefilm

Unity Productions

Funky Buddha Productions

EFD Films

United States of America

United Kingdom

English

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Ethan Hawke

Albert Finney

Marisa Tomei

Aleksa Palladino

Michael Shannon

Amy Ryan

Sarah Livingston

Brían F. O'Byrne

Rosemary Harris

Blaine Horton

Arija Bareikis

Leonardo Cimino

Lee Wilkof

Damon Gupton

Myra Lucretia Taylor

Marcia Jean Kurtz

Adrian Martinez

Patrick G. Burns

Alice Spivak

Natalie Gold

Keith Davis

Mateo Gómez

Chris Chalk

Sakina Jaffrey

John Knox

James Lally

Jordan Gelber

Megan Byrne

Guy A. Fortt

Meredith Patterson

Tom Zolandz

Paul Butler

Anita Sklar

Josh Mowery

Diane Bradley

Richard Lublin

Bob Colletti

Mary DeBellis

Alex Emanuel

Zeke Hawkins

Charles Kopelson

Nicholas E. Pagani

William S. Gilmore

Kelly Masterson

Brian Linse

Paul Parmar

David Bergstein

Ellen Lewis

Sidney Lumet

J.J. Hoffman

Carol Cuddy

Ron Fortunato

Jeffry Melnick

Christopher Nowak

Sam Zaharis

Michael Cerenzie

Belle Avery

Eli Klein

Tom Swartwout

Tina Nigro

Jane Barclay

Lilith Jacobs

Dave Paterson

Rachel Chancey

Steve Kirshoff

Jesse Morrow

Robert Fernandez

Carter Burwell

Diane Lederman

Damian Volpe

Patty Willett

Amy Lauritsen

Austin Chick

Mary Ellen Porto

Warren A. Weberg

Guy Pham

Diana Sikes

Andy Welker

Patricia Regan

Jay Peck

Ted Swanscott

Richard Bryan Douglas

Jeff G. Waxman

Wing Lee

Jeong-Hwa Fonkalsrud

Joseph P. Reidy

Thomas Kodros

Nick Foley

Lindsay Chag

Chris Newman

Ryan Collison

John Stifanich

Wayne Herndon

Phillip Beck

Joel Corenman

Hannah Leader

John Silvestri

Dominick Tavella

Gregg Harris

Ralph Pellegrini

Jill Brown

Kenneth Fundus

Abby Levine

Adam Miller

David Woolner

Chris Ann Pappas

Kate Quinlan

Josh Olive

Rafael Fraguada

Alison Ford

Denny Kortze

Eric Leigh

Geoffrey Miclat

Nicole Evangelista

Michael Farrow

Brooke Stanford

Beth M. Schniebolk

Griffin Newman

Joseph Proscia

Joan Winters

Peter Reniers

Joseph Viano

Lucia Lettini

Debbie Lucas

Jennifer Lilly

Alvaro Donado

Tommy Allen

Jeffrey Rollins

John Cenatiempo

Keith Siglinger

G.A. Aguilar

Erin Mayhugh

Jason Kadlec

Abigail Zealey Bess

Kelly Solomon

Grey Cusack

The world is an evil place Charlie. Some of us make money off that and others get destroyed.  

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Kelly Masterson. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris and Amy Ryan. Music is scored by Carter Burwell and cinematography by Ron Fortunato.

Two brothers with differing financial problems plan to rob their parents' jewellery store. But when all does not go to plan and tragedy strikes, it sends them, and those close to them, into a world of fear, shame and violence...

It opens with a raunchy sex scene, man and wife in the throes of committed passion, for these brief moments there is pleasure. Once over, though, it proves to be a false dawn, the last time anyone on screen will taste pleasure in Lumet's biting morality tale. From here on in the film unfolds in a dizzying array of multi-perspectives and over lapping of narrative structure, a three pronged assault on the senses as a family implodes in a haze of greed, lies and inadequacies. A botched robbery underpins the plotting, the aftermath of which is what is most cutting, we zip around learning the wherewithal and whys of the key players, learning exactly what we need to know to fully immerse in this bleak world. This is a world populated by love cheats, drug abuse, embezzling, bad parenting and blackmail, a world where the brothers Hanson (Hoffman & Hawke) now dwell, either ill equipped (Hawke's Hank) or stuck between idiocy and smug evil (Hoffman's Andy). Their folly, their greed, impacting with a juddering severity on the family circle.

My life, it doesn't add up. Nothing connects to anything else. I'm not the sum of my parts. All my parts don't add up to one...me.

It would be Lumet's last film (he passed away in 2011), thankfully it is a fitting final offering from the talented Philadelphian. He's aided considerably, mind, by a razor sharp script from debut screenplay writer Masterton. It's full of nastiness and tension, but still observational as a family tragedy, with major bonus' being that it never resorts to stereotypes or cops out come the crushing denouement. Where Lumet excels is in drawing near faultless performances from his cast. Youthful and downtrodden haplessness portrayed by Hawke, Hoffman's powerhouse manipulator with emotional issues, Tomei proving that over 40 is still sexy while dialling into a very touching performance. Finney, a cracker-jack of grief from the wily old fox, Ryan's hard edged ex-wife and Michael Shannon strolling into the picture late in the day exuding notable menace. All splendidly guided by the great director who asks them to portray characters convincing in going deeper for motivations and means.

Bleak, brutal and near brilliant across the board. 9/10

CinemaSerf

The outwardly successful "Andy" (Philip Seymour Hoffman) needs to raise some cash before his business gets an IRS audit. His weaker brother "Hank" (Ethan Hawke) needs cash to settle some childcare costs with his divorced wife. The two concoct a plan to rob their parents' jewellery store to solve both of their problems whilst, they hope, harming nobody but the insurers. A staffing alteration changes all of that, though, and as it turns out, mom is no pushover so the raid goes quite spectacularly wrong leaving her and one of the robbers in the ground. "Hank" is emotionally struggling, "Andy" still faces his problems and now they have their father (Albert Finney) determined to track down just who these attackers are! Now, to add to this already quite toxic mix, we discover that "Hank" has also been having an affair rather too close to home for his sibling and so the tension is soon building to a point where something is going to have to give - and lethally too. Finney features sparingly here, but he does steal the show as the Hoffman/Hawke dynamic builds to an effective and powerful conclusion that does rather powerfully portray just how family's are not always sweetness and light. It's a solid story well cast and written, with Sidney Lumet letting his talent do the heavy lifting with minimal interference from him or from any extended dialogue. I did like the ending, too!

Mark Kermode reviews Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) | BFI Player

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Cast

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Ethan Hawke

Albert Finney

Marisa Tomei

Aleksa Palladino

Michael Shannon

Amy Ryan

Sarah Livingston

Brían F. O'Byrne

Rosemary Harris

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