MILLER'S CROSSING
Review by John Beachem
* * * * 1/2
Directed by: Joel Cohen Written by: Joel and Ethan Cohen
"I can't die! Not here, among the trees, like an animal!" These words are screamed by Bernie, played perfectly by John Turturro (Rounders, The Big Lebowski). One can't help but admire lines like this, which are sprinkled throughout "Miller's Crossing". In this particular scene, Bernie grovels on his knees before the man who has been told to kill him. While he begs for his life, screaming for his killer to look into his heart, beautiful irish music plays in the background, and the camera moves slowly over the gorgeous forest where the execution is to take place. "Miller's Crossing" is a movie filled with wonderful dialogue, scenery, music and performances. Yet, there's something detatched about all this. It feels like we're watching it from afar, and as a result, we're never becoming involved with the characters. Oh well, I'm basically nitpicking I suppose.
Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) is a black hearted, Irish mobster in the 1920s. Tom works for Leo O'Bannion (Albert Finney), the big crime boss of the town. The problem is, Leo's slowly losing everything due to his sweetheart, Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). You see, Verna's brother is Bernie, and Bernie has been troubling another local crime boss, Johnny Casper (Jon Polito). So Johnny wants Leo to kill Bernie, but if he does, Leo thinks that Verna won't marry him. Another problem, is that Tom is seeing Verna behind Leo's back. Give me one moment now to catch my breath. If this sounds a little convoluted, that's because it is. We're not even given an introduction here. The film simply starts right in the middle of all this.
It took me awhile to realize what was troubling me throughout this beautiful movie. I think the problem is, as we listen to this gorgeous, poetic banter between the characters, it dawns on us that no one speaks like this. As a result of this, we never believe any of these characters could possibly be real. Okay, my nitpicking is done. Allow me to now express how brilliant the rest of this film is. The casting all around is perfect, but the real standout performances come from Gabriel Byrne ("The Usual Suspects", "End of Days"), and J. E. Freeman ("Go", "Alien: Resurrection") as Casper's number one flunky, The Dane. Freeman simply oozes with menace as he hovers around Casper, glaring at his adversaries with hate filled eyes.
The set design is magnificent; from Leo's antique furniture in his mammoth office, to the interiors of the clubs run by the two gangs. Everything has an otherworldly feel about it; like a dim, shadowy reflection of a real prohibition era town. For example, Miller's Crossing itself is a heavily forested area in which gangsters take people to be executed. The grove features a deep blanket of dead leaves, a constantly overcast sky, and tall, thin, dead trees leering over the condemned man. It's an eerie, unnatural place, worthy of a Tim Burton movie. To further enhance the beautiful scenery at work here, we're given a strangely moving irish score. The soft, melodious sounds play, as men are shot full of holes, or as they stumble, sobbingly through Miller's Crossing, approaching the scene of their demise.
Watching "Miller's Crossing" is like watching poetry in motion. It may not always be involving, but we sit in awe struck silence at the amount of effort put into this film. The film runs a fast 115 minutes, and not a single scene is wasted. Exquisite scenery, brilliant performances and a standout soundtrack would already have made this film worthwhile; the fact that the script is involving only enhances the experience. I recommend the film to anyone who enjoys gangster movies, and heck, to everyone else for that matter. See this one right now. I give it a well earned four and a half out of five stars.
Feel free to e-mail with comments at: johnbeachem@dependentfilms.net
* * * * * - One of the greatest movies ever made, see it now. * * * * - Great flick. Try and catch this one. * * * - Okay movie, hits and misses. * * - Pretty bad. See it if you've got nothing better to do. * - One of the worst movies ever. See it only if you enjoy pain.
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