"Speak in Tongues" - The 25th Hour (2002)

Plot:  A drug dealer ponders his past, present, and future as he spends his last free day with friends and  family before beginning a 7-year prison sentence in our post 9/11 world.  

Assessment:  Continuing on in this lil’ Spike Lee series, we find the director reach a more somber tone in his filmography after mostly upbeat pumped up kicks like Do the Right Thing and Crooklyn (note: still haven’t seen Malcolm X or He Got Game).  The film has its moments of happiness and excitement, but there is also true sadness juxtaposed right along side as we not only begin the last free day of our main character Monty (Edward Norton), but we experience a time in New York after the World Trade Center attacks; a theme most (including me) might look at as cheap and exploitative only a year after the event, but Lee plays it out in the subtext.

Camera work is even more restrained.  There is still the quintessential tracking shot which Lee loves (characters "float" with the camera in slow motion) but he expertly lets many scenes just play out with for the dialogue, including one surprisingly effective scene with Monty's closest friends, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper.  The palette effectively changes between bright tones and desaturation, keeping a fine balance and effectively emulating the emotions and story points we see on screen.     

The 25th Hour treads a fine line between enjoyment and despair, the past and the future.  Monty has great friends, a caring father (Brian Cox), and a gorgeous and loving girlfriend (Rosario Dawson).  As we see them all together, the group attend to neglected discussions of mistakes that put Monty in his current position, as well as what will happen once locked away; Monty muses on happenings worse than death, which his friends unconvincingly reject, promising he'll be fine and they'll be there once he's out.  These scenes bounce the viewer into tense anticipation of despair, while at moments finding true bliss between friends.  This fine line is seen in characterization as well: where at first characters are against each other, they end as closer to one another; close to equals.  

While a truly effective, believable and stirring film, Lee may overreach in some moments.  Monty shows heavy handed hatred towards all races and New York stereotypes during a moment of regret and anguish at his coming predicament.  This is also brought back later as we see those he imagined on the street, essentially biding him farewell on his journey to prison.  However, with the story presented against a period of sadness and slight uncertainty in the future, perhaps it is appropriate mixing these elements together.  The main character’s plight mirror’s that of the city, and potentially the nation.  And even though we are faced with sudden despair towards the beginning of the third act, Lee finishes on an uplifting note: there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and all could be ok.

Man, somber review.  Note to self: do not try and review a movie while watching it.

  

Tid bit: Tobey Maguire was originally going to star, but bailed to do Spider Man.  He still produced (probably for the best; Norton FTW anyway).  

Drink Of Choice: “I haven't had a drink in two years, but I'll have one with you, one last whisky with my boy. Take our time with it, taste the barley, let it linger. And then I'll go. “  One piece of a pivotal monologue being said to Monty by his dad.  Simplify; after this quote, nothing wrong with just whiskey.