Lumet’s mastery shines in ‘Devil’

Few contemporary American directors have plumbed the problem of morality quite like Sidney Lumet. Then again, few American directors have been contemporary for as long as he has. Lumet is 83, and his career has spanned half a century and more than 40 movies -- not all of them good, obviously. But the good ones are great. The director is never more energized or interesting than when he squeezes his all-too-human characters into vise-tight spots of their own construction, then watches as the unforeseen, unintended consequences bloom. If any director will make you think twice about not thinking through a life-changing decision, it’s Lumet.

A tense anti-caper written by Kelly Masterson that’s part thriller and part Greek tragedy, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” shares many traits with such Lumet classics as “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Serpico,” “Network” and “The Verdict,” as well as family-centered stories “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and “Running on Empty.”

In it, Lumet breaks down the moral cause-and-effect process even further, showing how inexorably all morally compromised roads lead to one very bad Rome. The crime the story revolves around is such a prime specimen in the gallery of regrettable decisions that the director gets it out of the way early, then keeps stepping back and coming back to it for the rest of the movie, as if trying to figure out how all these well-intentioned people got there.

Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a real estate accountant with a cash-flow problem that’s at least partly related to his beautiful, childlike wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei), and a sex problem that’s apparently related to the cash-flow problem. Andy’s brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) has money problems too (divorce, child-support), but they don’t get in the way of his satisfying sex life with Gina. Andy has no idea that Hank and Gina are having an affair when he talks Hank into knocking over a mom-and-pop business that happens to belong to their own mom and pop, though he eventually finds out after the job is botched and their father, Charles (Albert Finney), has dedicated himself to taking revenge on the perpetrator.

What starts out, in Andy’s mind at least, as a victimless crime (insurance will cover their parents’ losses, and their parents will be spared the trauma of being robbed because they’ll rob it during an employee’s shift) quickly twists itself into an Oedipal knot. Andy presses his nervous younger brother into service on the grounds that he himself would be recognized. Hank agrees to do the job but loses his nerve and enlists a lowlife busboy named Bobby (Brian O’Byrne) to pull the trigger. Metaphorically speaking. Unfortunately, Bobby doesn’t stick to the metaphor, and things careen out of control from there.

If Lumet’s stock-in-trade is moral ambiguity, then Hoffman’s is his incredible ability to embody opposing characteristics at once. It’s hard to think of another actor whose characters limn the outer margins of personality so thoroughly. Nobody plays a better miserable, depressive slob than Hoffman, just as nobody plays a crisp, cold operator better than he does. In “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” he’s neither-- he’s a powder-keg of pent-up rage packed tightly inside a well-armored, climate-controlled exterior. If it’s possible to slither and purr simultaneously, he does it. Of all the characters, Andy is the most mysterious and the most multifaceted. He lives his life on the surface, on a veneer of perfection, so his secrets spin off in all kinds of unexpected directions. His life is a wonder of controlled lack of control. Even his serious vices are indulged neatly and elegantly.

Signs that Andy is in trouble are everywhere, but he maintains such a cool exterior that it’s not until late in the movie that it becomes obvious he’s driven by personal motives as well as economic ones, no matter how subconsciously. The relationship with his hapless brother is as vicious as it is protective, just as Hank’s relationship to Andy is as idolatrous as it is covetous. Hank is as out-of-control as Andy is reined in. He acts on impulse and reacts like a terrified child. Hawke seems to fall apart on the screen, flailing and lurching from one extreme to another, fighting with his ex-wife and cowering in fear in the corners of his dingy apartment. It’s easy to feel sorry for Hank, the weaker brother, over Andy, the stronger one, especially as Andy continually pokes at his weakness, calling him a “baby.”

The “baby” label comes up a lot, in fact. Charles uses it derisively and then, later, defensively, when Andy confronts him about his upbringing. Being called a baby as a grown man may hurt, but as it becomes clear, it’s also a privilege. Hank is coddled and excused, loved for his cuteness and his puppy-dog eagerness to please. Andy, on the other hand, gets no passes at all. His job is to please others and accept their inability to love him. When Gina walks out on him, she asks for cab fare, and he patiently tosses her his wallet.

The title “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is taken from an Irish proverb quoted in its entirety in the opening titles: “May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.” The implication is, of course, that everyone has sins the devil knows about -- and could get you for-- if you’re not lucky enough to slip past him unnoticed. Lumet’s movie echoes this scrappy trickster spirit. It has no illusions but isn’t cynical. It’s extremely angry but deeply humanistic.

This is no nostalgia trip taken by an 83-year-old director. It’s a fierce, hot slap of a movie, a shameless melodrama with bite.

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“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” MPAA rating: R for a scene of strong graphic sexuality, nudity, violence, drug use and language. Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes. In general release.