Very good gangster movie , being magnificently played , masterfully paced and visually exhilarating

ma-cortes

score 7/10

A nice gangster movie marvelously written and set in the Twenties when Prohibition took place and full of perfect setting , colorful scenes and studied frames . Here Jewish , Italian , Irish mobsters spin cobwebs of treason , protection , murders and vendetta over themselves and their family . It deals with a mysterious protagonist who sets a complex scheme in motion , Tom Reagan : Gabriel Byrne is the brain behind the throne of an Irish ganglord , Leo : Albert Finney, but at a violent war against another mobster ; John Polito, the latter begins falling out . Meanwhile , there appears the girlfriend : Marcia Gay Harden stunts as the cunning woman who sleeps with Byrne and his boss , Finney , in hopes of a better life and protection for her small-time crook brother : John Turturro .Tom attempts to keep the peace an order between warring mobs , but things go wrong and he gets caught in divided loyalties. At the end it is a joy to watch the pieces of the jigsaw , here fitting perfectly towards the conclusion and it makes complete sense and well-closed plot .What's the rumpus? You can dangle. Up is down, black is white, and nothing is what it seems. Nothing is what it seems at Miller's Crossing.

The faultlessly paced film is a really dark entry in the mobster genre , being crammed with suspense , menace , violence , turns , as well as sharp, witty dialogue and Byzantine plotting ; though , overlong , and hard to follow, at times . It is well constructed and makes absolute sense ; adding both , emphasis and darkness to dilemma and resolution . It is a crime thriller with several roles complicating the twisted plot and it charts the gang wars between two mobsters in an American city during Prohibition . The action blazes in bursts between the workings of the script , and the merciless violence is relentlessly real , earning a movie without intercourse scenes , sex , or any profanity or bad language and adult certificate on its own . The movie is hugely inventive , with agreeable narrative , but it is also pays an enjoyable tribute to the crime literature , notably Dashiell Hammett novels and films of the 30s . And there's another level as a series of variations of themes of friendship , betrayal , ambition , trustworthy and ethics . At times , the criss-crossing of abstract and complex motifs recalls the formal style and complexity of Peter Greenaway movies . Being artfully poised between a subtle acknowledgement of hits own artifice and a sinister realism , including grilsy killings and high body-count . The engaged crossed dialogue between Gabriel Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden remembers Humprey Bogart/Lauren Bacall couple . Armed with this gem of a script , the players give excellently weighted interpretations . Gabriel Byrne delivers a fine acting as Tom , Teo's loyal right-hand man , who is the lover of Leo's mistress , he is starring , but no hero , being as deeply flawed as the man he fights . Support cast is frankly top-drawer , such as : Jon Polito , J.E. Freeman ,Mike Starr , the early deceased Michael Jeter , Danny Aiello , Al Mancini , Steve Buscemi , Oleg Krupa , among others . And cameos from Sam Raimi , Michael Badalucco and Frances McDormand , Cohen's wife , as Mayor's Secretary . Wonderful and evocative musical score by Carter Burwell . As well as glimmering and brilliant cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld .


From Cohen Brothers comes this extremely dark and flawlessly narrated flick , as Joel Cohen's filmaking never puts a foot wrong . The motion picture was well written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen . Like ¨Raising Arizona¨ and ¨Blood simple¨ this works both , as a mobster movie , and an ironic comment of that genre . Both of whom have shared these duties on all of their films, but Joel has always been listed as director and Ethan as producer . The first Coen brothers film where both he and brother Ethan Coen are given directing and producing credits was Ladykillers (2004). Both of them are part of the prestigious group of individuals to have won Oscars for writing , directing and producing in the same year, for the film No Country for Old Men (2007). Their career is splendid from first film : Blood simple (1984) to Arizona Baby (1987), Miller's crossing (1990) , Barton Fink (1991), the great Lebowski (1998), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) , Intolerable Cruelty (2003) , Burn After Reading (2008) , A Serious Man (2009) , True grit (2010) , among others . Rating : 7.5/10 . It is arguably an US mainstream first art movie .

ma-cortes 16 November 2018

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4461758/