Everything has an expiration date, even our lives. We only get one, but sometimes it can be taken away. Spike Lee’s 25th Hour gives us a man with only one night left before life as he knows it ends. He won’t be dead, but he won’t be the same. He doesn’t spend his final night riding roller coasters in a Hallmark movie, but instead he sits. He reflects. The power of 25th Hour lies in its subtlety. Most films include long soliloquies recounting the meaning of what we see. The characters here are not so eloquent. As with the best films, it is not what it says, but what it evokes. The dialogue is nothing but conversation and behavior, and that of actual characters. This film is both a departure for Spike Lee and a triumph. Of his films that I’ve seen, this is his best.
Edward Norton plays Monty Brogan, a drug dealer who is a day away from beginning a 7-year prison term. He knows that once he enters, he will not exit the same man. The life is Monty Brogan is over, no matter how long he lives after the end of the film. His friends Jacob (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Frank (Barry Pepper) spell it out in a conversation the two have with Ground Zero in the background. Monty has three options: Run away, kill himself, or go to jail. Either way, the Monty Brogan they know is long gone. The mood is that Monty is not going to jail, but awaiting a trip to the gallows.
Monty’s eyes are determined throughout, encompassing fear, regret and he savoring of every moment. He never wanted this for himself. This was never a good career choice, and he claims that there were times he was going to cut and run. However, it wasn’t early enough. The cops came in and found drugs in his couch, and just like that his life is over.
His girlfriend Naturelle, played by Rosario Dawson, is not the gold digger many make her out to be. Her love for Monty is true and rather disarming to someone who’s seen a lot of movies. The concept of drug dealing is glamorized routinely in the movies, but rarely is it just a job. Monty single-handedly repudiates every drug-dealer stereotype in the book. The opening scene shows him rescuing an injured dog, which eventually becomes his faithful buddy Doyle. At the end of the day he was still a drug-dealer, though, and now he’s going to get his just punishment. This sentence is not something he doesn’t deserve.
Not only a portrait of a man whose current life is ending, 25th Hour is a most accurate portrayal of New York City of America directly after the 9/11 attacks. The attacks themselves are only mentioned a few times, but there is no mistake that this is a city in mourning. The sky is often cloudy, faces are sullen. It seems just a little bit harder to smile. These are people trying to find light in their lives in the wake of something terrible.
The soul of the movie comes in the form of Brian Cox as Monty’s father. He feels partly responsible for his son’s mistakes, and as such remains close to him up until the very end. It is his narration at the end that brings the film full circle. Monty considers a second chance to live a normal life, free of the baggage in New York. We are lucky enough to get one chance at life, but perhaps asking for a second is a little too greedy. Life can be terrible, and it’s easy to become angry and cynical, but hey: we’re still alive, aren’t we?
Rating:
(out of 4)
Hey Matt,
ReplyDeleteNice review of 25th Hour. If you haven't read the script I'd recommend it - interesting to see how much Lee took from the page and in his trademark style, brought his own inescapable flavor to the filmed story. I might disagree that it is the best we've seen from Spike Lee; hard to beat Do The Right Thing (my vote for a Woody Allen-esque, urban parable akin to Manhattan or Whatever Works) and Mo' Better Blues features a paired down Denzel Washington, equal parts surface bebop musician and 'own worse enemy' to which we truly don't see enough of - funny, introspective and confident, casual and comfortable at the same time that for me is the undercurrent of purposeful, decisive direction (Lee). Clockers is also a strong film, though at times schooly or pedantic and obvious with an agenda that gets in the way of otherwise memorable scenes with Keitel and Turturro, not to mention Delray Lindo (why doesn't he work more!) and Mekhi Phifer proves his salt and onscreen watchability.
I want to like Edward Norton here more than I ultimately do. He very often gets in a rail rut and telegraphs emotions that would better be left to percolate and steam up in less obvious ways. Don't get me wrong, he delivers some touchy and frequently emotional moments but something hangs me up on the believability of his character in these specific scenarios.
I've read much about the portrayal of post 9/11 New York and while I agree, there are nice moments especially with the twin beams that were projected in the buildings absence for what, a year? I just felt like it was window dressing or worse, an over sentimentalized story element that didn't play to the forefront of this character and the last twenty four hours of the life as you well write, that he knows before prison will irrevocably change him.
And yes, I can't get enough of Brian Cox these days. I think he has truly aged with grace and poise, delivering in the kind of Chris Walken, John Hurt, James Belushi subtly of expression and comfortableness with the uncomfortable that isn't appreciated enough by mainstream audiences. Cox' guilt and misgivings, his last tempt to make some kind of right over his shortcomings clearly serves the soul of the movie as you describe
Makes me think I should have just gone off on my own, inspired by your well written review to include my own and perhaps later, I will. Thanks for this.
best,
Rory
Above the Line:Practical Movie Reviews
Sorry I just discovered this comment. Thanks for your thoughts!
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