1.23.2009

before the devil knows you're dead

i'm watching the movie, 'before the devil knows you're dead,' and this movie is crazy good.
it is a movie about two brothers who rob their parents jewelry store and their lives were already in a really crappy state with phillip seymour hoffman's character andy in a loveless marriage who hates his job, does drugs and steals money from his work, and ethan hawke's character, hank who is the younger brother, has no money and is trying to support his child with his nagging ex-wife in the mix, plus cheating with andy's wife.
but throughout this whole film you feel sorry for hoffmans character...the villain of the movie you just want to give him a hug.
you feel sorry for this man because you can tell he always took the back seat to hank growing up with his dad because hank was the youngest.
andy manipulates his baby brother in robbing their parents store, that they used to work at, and know where everything is, and they planned on robbing the store when neither of their parents were going to be working...the plan went haywire when their mother decided to work that one saturday morning.
the brothers get blackmailed for 10k, are on edge the whole time which makes hoffman's character go completely ballistic in that he is about to kill his own brother because he cannot take the pressure of the situation. and yet, through all this melodramatic chaos it is filmed in an unique way, where it doesn't seem so melodramatic anymore. you can feel the tension in the room, but the love these brothers have for each other that turns to hate within seconds.
hawke is just the little brother, you can tell his whole life he was always scared of his older brother, and he always did what andy told him to do, no matter what the stakes.
this movie is amazing because it makes you love the villain, that doesn't happen that often. and then you get to the end and you think the dad, who figured everything out is going to take the high road...he doesn't and you are in complete shock by the last shot and the scene goes black you just sit there.
it is the story of two brothers that are in complete turmoil and have lost complete hope...i mean come on, they are the reason their mom is dead...that is a lot of pressure.
here is what i think the best line in the movie is...where the father figures out his sons are the culprits.

"The world is an evil place Charlie, some of us make money off of that, and some of us get destroyed."

the sons wanted money, instead they got destroyed.

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