The Drop
Directed by Michaël R. Roskam
“The Drop” is based on a short story entitled “Animal rescue” by Dennnis LeHane. LeHane is known for his stories of crime set in and around Boston and “Animal Rescue” was another such story. In a recent NPR interview he stated that the filmmakers were concerned that the Boston-based crime story had played itself out and wanted it set somewhere else, hence the Brooklyn setting, although he also said that nothing was changed in the story to accommodate the location change.
The aspect of this background that struck me most was not so much the location, with a story set in local bars dominated by crime families that probably could take place in many places and times, but the fact that it was adapted from a short story. This information popped up on screen as the film ended and suddenly it made more sense to me regarding why I had enjoyed the film so much. Put simply, it felt very complete. Adapted books often feel like details have been truncated or left out, for reasons of length, whereas “The Drop” never felt aggressively edited in its storytelling and this is why.
Tom Hardy plays Bob, a seemingly simple-minded bartender who works at “Cousin Marv’s” bar, owned by his actual cousin Marv. Marv is played in bitter and menacing form by the late James Gandolfini, still harboring resentment over the loss of ownership of his bar to local Chechen interests. In their day, Bob and Marv have run their own criminal activities but, as Bob describes it, the day came when Marv flinched and he lost everything.
The bar is now part of a network of establishments that take turns to collect all of the neighborhood’s illegal cash, from assorted illicit activities, making it an obvious target for thieves except for the ruthlessness of the Chechens whose money it is. Walking home one night after work, Bob finds a battered pit bull puppy in a trash can and the puppy causes other characters to enter what has otherwise become his very stable and predictable life, changing everything. One of these is Nadia, a somewhat damaged young woman played by Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”).
Hardy, as Bob, is a little hard to reconcile at first. As stated, Bob appears somewhat simple-minded and Hardy has too much of a spark in his eye to carry off that impression. But as we spend more time with Bob, we come to realize that he’s more simple than simple-minded. Marv, by comparison, is a boiling vat of barely contained rage, a self-perceived wise guy who now passively manages a bar that is no longer his own.
“The Drop” is a compelling blend of dark character study and crime story that draws you into its depths. It maintains that sense of brooding, imminent violence despite never being quite clear where such violence might come from next, there being so many ready choices. It’s a clever story told well and worth finding the time to watch.
Love is Strange
Directed by Ira Sachs
John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play Ben and George, respectively seventy-something and sixty-something long time gay partners and only recently married. Together almost four decades, Ben is an exhibited but not commercially successful painter and George a teacher of music. Their relationship hasn’t been idyllic, as the film unveils, but they’ve lived a good life, good enough to have bought their comfortable New York coop apartment.
That is until their marriage makes George persona non grata at the Catholic school where he teaches, and he’s fired, despite his homosexuality having been well known throughout his period of employment. Without much of a financial cushion, they realize they need to sell their apartment and look for something cheaper – with the bulk of the film focusing on the time they spend relying on family members for places to live.
“Love is Strange” is a neat film that mixes humor with family drama in a manner that feels almost painfully, or at least awkwardly real. The primary and secondary characters are whole enough for us to appreciate their motivations and understand their concerns even when they might appear uncharitable. In particular, a small part of the extended family played by Darren E. Burrows as George’s nephew Elliot, Marisa Tomei as his wife Kate, and Charlie Tahan as their teenage son Joey is very well portrayed.
Although the central couple in the film are gay men, and the cause of George’s dismissal is directly related to his sexuality, the dynamics of the family members are not dominated by that aspect of the story. These are loved men in a respected relationship and, as such, the circumstances of their homelessness are primarily related to their lost income and the expensive New York real estate market. There’s actually relatively little in the film that couldn’t be represented by any long term couple, of any sexuality.
In this sense, it’s actually quite refreshing in that it’s a story we rarely see – one in which the lead roles are either elderly or at least well on the way, very much in love, and simply battling unpleasant circumstances. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine this couple being switched with the couple (Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan) in “Le Week-End,” for example, without needing to modify much more in either story than the circumstance of the job loss.
Perhaps, if the couple had been elderly and straight, it might either not have made it to the screen or it might have needed more overt humor to sell it. But this is a human story, a relationship story, an aging story, and not simply a gay story – and, as such, it should appeal to a wider audience than the gay subject matter might attract. Sadly, many who would enjoy it probably won’t give it a chance.
