#52 - The 25th Hour (2002)

I loved The 25th Hour. I mean it. I loved its characters, the premise, the conclusion... but when it came to writing a couple of paragraphs on it, I realized the film has little to no plot progression, or a cohesive theme to wrap up the story and deliver a clear message. But you know what? It is ok. That may be the message itself: it goes nowhere. And with a premise like this, it's a completely understandable idea.

The film narrates the last day in Monty Brogan's life before he goes to jail on a seven year sentence for drug dealing, and how he says goodbye to his friends and family. That's it, and surprisingly, it works. The film is going to end up with Monty going to jail and we all know it. Aside from tying up all loose ends, like saying goodbye to his childhood friends, finding out who gave him away to the police, finding someone to take care of his dog, there is no plot progression. And it works; you truly feel like it's over for Monty.

 

Everything: characters, scenes, performances; set a perfect melancholic tone.

That's one of the things I liked the most about the film, too. The slow pacing of the film helps not only develop the characters better but it conveys this idea that Monty is not in a hurry to go to jail and wants to take his time. The way the filmmaking choices and not the dialogue itself help us empathize with the titular character is genius.

Because, really, there's something wrong with Monty. From the beginning I couldn't hepl but wonder how could Edward Norton's character possibly be selling drugs. He is introduced rescuing a beat up dog in the middle of the street, he's well-spoken: he seems like a nice guy that made all the wrong choices. But instead of being an actual nice guy and being concerned on, say, all the damage his work has done, he is worried of not beoing raped in prison and the like. The character itself is really contradictory, but like I said, he's nice to watch and the pacing of the film helps us empathize with him. And Norton's performance is excellent to boot.

Scenes like these help a big deal. Here's a Youtube link. "Ten years in the country, still no speak English?"

The supporting cast also helps set the depressing tone of the film. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays Monty's friend, a shy teacher with a crush on his student; Brian Cox plays Monty's father, an alcoholic ex-fireman; then there's Monty's promiscuous girlfriend, Naturelle; his sleazy Russian friend Kostya... Their performances are also spot on, the characters are well developed, and everyone has his own subplot. They are what drive the story forward.

Except for minor nitpicks like the main character being contradictory and my inability to understand the post 911 undretones of the film, The 25th Hour was totally worth watching. One of the best surprises I had since I started this blog (I wasn't expecting a lot on this one).