Ed here: I watched this again last night so I'm reposting this review.
The 25th Hour
I watched the 25th Hour again last night. I've recommended it before. Flawed as it is--the first act needed to be trimmed--it is still one of the most powerful crime films I've ever seen simply because it doesn't rely on any of the neo-noir tropes so fashionable today. It is the story of an intelligent, otherwise decent young man so fucking stupid he started dealing drugs. And in so doing lost his claim on both intelligence and decency.
The film takes place in the final 24 hours before he goes to prison. Ed Norton as the dealer, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as his hapless friend, Rosario Dawson as Norton's lover and Anna Paquin as the teenage student Hoffman is fixated on form a crushing ensemble. The acting is flawless.
The final twenty minutes, in the scene with Norton's father and the scene with Norton and Hoffman and another friend, are as good as anything I've seen in the last fifteen years.
I am a lonely voice recommending this movie but I think it will eventually get its due.
Update: It was even richer, more powerful on my third viewing last night. This was Spike Lee's triumph.
100% agree, Ed.
ReplyDeleteI watched this on a whim one day and found it to be one of the best films I've never heard that much about. It deserves a lot more recognition than it gets.
Ed, I couldn't agree more. i saw the movie when it came out and I never miss it when it makes a rare appearance on TV.
ReplyDeleteThe ending can make a grown man cry, and the acting is of the very highest caliber. Don't forget Barry Pepper, too, as Norton's best friend. He operated at the same level as the others.
I wish they'd given it another, more evocative title, though.