jcohen@sco.COM (Jon Cohen) (11/08/90)
MILLER'S CROSSING
A film review by Jon Cohen
Copyright 1990 Jon Cohen
I thoroughly enjoyed MILLER'S CROSSING, a powerful, original, and
sometimes very funny gangster picture written, directed, and produced by
Joel and Ethan Coen, the same team that created BLOOD SIMPLE and RAISING
ARIZONA.
The story is about rival gangs--Irish, Italian, and Jewish--and
their struggles to control the rackets, cops and politicians in a
nameless American city that might be Boston in the 1920s or early 1930s.
One of the impressive achievements of this film, I think, is how the
Coen brothers create a generic city of darkness and lawlessness that
refers as much to the history of gangster films as any real time and
place.
These guys make movies with great style--lots of surprises, lots of
rolling cameras following characters around, moving in slowly on people
or chasing after them, constantly changing the audience's point of view.
No doubt, Alfred Hitchcock is one of the big influences on their style.
When they do a violent scene, it always contains a surprise of some kind,
an unpredictable and uncontrollable element, sometimes a laugh: the
message, I think, is that violence is the height of human stupidity.
The Coen brothers also have something to say about greed and
corruption in this movie. We get a vision of life without love and
trust and the ethical codes that come from respect for other human
beings. Characters are corrupted to different degrees. We hear them
rationalize about the compromises they make, and some even take pride in
the "ethics" that they bring to their business of using, hurting,
robbing, and killing people. The movie asks the audience to reflect on
its own compromises, its own fearful obedience to the system, our own
inabilities to love and trust.
At the center of the film are great performances: the
always-wonderful Albert Finney as the Irish boss, whose soft heart is
his tragic flaw; Gabriel Byrne (remember this guy from SIESTA?) as a
dark-hearted, black Irishman who is brilliant at the art of survival but
too damaged to love or trust anyone; and John Turturro (ferret-faced
actor who was Sal's racist son in DO THE RIGHT THING) as an especially
slippery and desperate Jewish punk. There is also a great performance
by a bald-headed, fat actor as the Italian crime boss (anybody catch his
name?). Also, the characters in the film often refer to Turturro's
character as a "Shmata" or "The Shmata." Does anybody know what this
means--is it Jewish, Irish, Italian? ["Schmata" is Yiddish for "rag."
--Moderator]
Altogether, a memorable bunch of grotesque characters, lost in the
darkness.ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) (01/17/91)
MILLER'S CROSSING
A film review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
Since the movie reviews are normally handled by the more hirsute member
of the Leeper Consortium, it is rare indeed that I take pen in hand (or in
this case, keyboard in lap) to review a film. But circumstances compel me
to do so for MILLER'S CROSSING. What circumstances? Well, if I don't, you
won't know to drop everything and go see this movie.
Of course, for many of you, just the statement that this is another
movie from Joel and Ethan Cohn (RAISING ARIZONA, BLOOD SIMPLE) is enough.
And if I say Albert Finney is in it, that will drag a few more of you down
to your local cinema (or not-so-local cinema--this film is not exactly in
what might be termed wide release). But if that isn't enough, how about the
following:
- Excellent acting, especially by Gabriel Byrne (as Tom Regan) and Joe
Polito (as Joe Caspar).
- Wonderful cinematography by Barry Sonnenfield
- Beautiful Irish-inspired score by Carter Burwell, including the most
perfect rendition of "Danny Boy" I have ever heard (special screen
credit was given to tenor William Preston Robertson for this).
- Well-written script by Joel Cohn.
Regarding the script, you should be warned: buy your popcorn and make
your rest stops *before* the film starts. If you leave the theater, even for
five minutes, you will never figure out what's going on when you get back.
This is a very dense plot, and much of what is important about the
relationships between the various people is given in "toss-away" lines.
This, of course, is a lot like real life, where people generally do not say,
"Well, ever since Tom passed Bill over for that promotion, Bill has had it
in for Tom," but rather things like, "You shouldn't be surprised at what
Bill did; after all, remember that promotion."
Unfortunately, this film has come and gone in most areas (or, more
likely, not come at all). Luckily, this means that it will probably be on
videocassette in a few months. While the wide screen is better for the
appreciation of the technical details in this film, the ability to pause,
play back, and in general analyze the script may make up for that loss.
This is a definite "must-see" film.
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908-957-2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com