Review- Miller's Crossing (1990)

Directed by: Joel Coen

Written by: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Marden, John Tuturro, Albert Finney

Synopsis: Tom Reagan is the right hand man and close friend to mob boss Leo O'Bannon. When another mob boss wants to kill the brother of Leo's girlfriend Verna Bernhaum, things begin to get complicated. Tom Reagan eventually has to do choose sides, but who's side is he on anyway?

You've heard it a hundred times before and you'll here it again, The Coen brothers are one of the best filmmakers on the planet. They've always produced great material and they've yet to slip up (some say they may of slipped up with writing the screenplay for the film Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie, and although the work isn't fantastic I wouldn't call an average screenplay a slip up). So I looked at their filmography on good ol' Wikipedia to see which films of theirs I hadn't seen and I saw Miller's Crossing.

Although the Coens have an incredibly varied filmography, Miller's Crossing is quite different from most of their movies. It's almost devoid of the quirks and style that I love from the Coens and what got them famous with Fargo. It's hard to pinpoint exactly makes a Coen Brothers film a Coen Brothers film, but I usually can tell when a movie was made by them without having to see their names on the credits. There is some of it there in Miller's Crossing but it's a very small portion. It's a fantastic noir-gangster film, however.

The story and characters are interesting and engaging. You support the main character Tom Reagan (played by Gabriel Byrne) despite not really knowing his motives at times, and that's quite impressive when you think about it. It's interesting that the twists and turns of the story come from the character that the story follows. Noirs are usually about someone solving a mystery, not creating one. So it's very unique in that aspect. It's funny at times (that touch of Coen Brother's quirk, but I wouldn't call the film a black-comedy like many do. One thing about the Coens is that their movies often do not fit within one genre) an you get to enjoy the moments when they arrive.

Technical aspects are spot on. The movie has this aura that reminds me of movies made in the 60s. The costumes, the style in which the actors act (especially Albert Finney who plays Leo O'Bannon), the makeup the actors are given, the music, and most of all the lighting. It doesn't feel like a period piece of the 1940s but a film imitating early films of the 50s and 60s that took place in the 1940s. That might be a criticism if they were aiming at a period piece but considering the film doesn't take place in a specific city and no year is ever given, I'm guessing they weren't. So homages to these older films are a bonus. The most staggering thing about the film is that it was done with only the budget of 14 million (the Coens claim, however, that it was really only 10 million).

There's not a whole lot more to say about the movie. Can't think of any criticisms except that maybe it went on a couple minutes more than it should have. If you're a fan of the Coen Brother's then see it, although I think it's more enjoyable as a gangster film than a Coens film.

8/10