Motherless Brooklyn
Cert: 15 / 144 mins / Dir. Edward Norton / Trailer
Adapting Jonathan Lethem's 1999 novel, Edward Norton produces, screen-writes and directs a tale of secrets and lies in 1957 New York. Starring as Lionel - assistant to private-eye Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) and fighting to keep his Tourette Syndrome under control - the murder of his boss sees our aspiring sleuth drawn into a city-wide bureaucratic conspiracy*1. When Laura (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) vocally protests against property developer Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin), Lionel becomes involved believing this to be linked to Frank's death. The pair are then surprised to receive help from architect Paul (Willem Dafoe), and the plot thickens...
MODEL
Credit where it's due for the guy doing a bit of A Dennis Waterman, Norton is a model of restraint here. Although his character's affliction comes and goes depending on his stress and distraction-levels, it would be easy to over-egg this part yet Edward rarely strays that close. Alec Baldwin is a bit more pantomime in his (metaphorical) moustache-twirling role, but Willem Dafoe brings things back to level with a 'focused' performance which channels a gaunt Brian Blessed.
Cinematographer Dick Pope's camera direction and colour palette are somehow dynamic and soporific in equal measure, bringing a soothing buzz to the intrigue of the story, while Daniel Pemberton and Wynton Marsalis' soundtrack work is outstanding, a character in and of itself; the whole thing is of its time without becoming a caricature of jazz.
PEOPLE
The plot is as convoluted as a private eye conspiracy tale needs to be, but always makes sense in context of itself. Similarly, the finish is quieter than the long lead-up might suggest although it's ultimately in-keeping with the themes of right, wrong and just making the best of a bad situation.
Motherless Brooklyn is too story-driven to be strictly a character piece, yet Norton's central performance is turned up too high to let the narrative take the lead. As such, it's unclear where this will sit in the future.
It's good, though. Watch it for the soundtrack alone.
Think Sin City, filtered through Inside Llewyn Davis.
Only if you're enthused/intrigued beforehand.
It is.
Probably not, if only because it's a cast who have been so strong elsewhere.
Unlikely.
There isn't.
Level 2: Ethan Suplee is in this, and he was in that episode of My Name Is Earl with John 'Durant' Favreau.
(although special shoutout to Michael Kenneth Wiliams who was supposed to have been in Solo, which would have made this a level-1).
*1 Having not read the 1999 novel, I don't know how closely Norton has adapted it for the 2019 screen, so I don't know how much of the glaring Tr*mp subtext has been trowelled onto this movie by me, the viewer. Let's just say that if the openly racist property developer and megalomaniac had bleach-blond hair, it would be simultaneously over-the-top yet entirely in keeping...
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