DIR\/WRI: Edward Norton \u2022 DOP: Dick Pope \u2022 ED: Joe Klotz \u2022 PRO: Michael Bederman, Sue Kroll, Bill Migliore, Daniel Nadler, Edward Norton, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Robert F. Smith \u2022 MUS: Dick Pope \u2022 DES: Beth Mickle \u2022 CAST: Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale<\/p>\n
Motherless Brooklyn\u00a0is based on the 1999 Jonathan Lethem novel of the same name. After reading this 1980s-set neo-noir detective story upon its release, Edward Norton fell in love, bought the rights, and it had been on his \u2018slate\u2019 ever since. By the time the film went into production in 2018, Norton had become the writer, director, producer and lead. He also had enough of an A-list cast to rival an awards show guest list, and changed the era.<\/p>\n
In 1950s New York, Norton plays Lionel Essrog, a wise-guy detective with Tourette\u2019s syndrome who goes by the moniker \u2018Motherless Brooklyn\u2019. Lionel is one of four men who work for agency boss Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). They grew up together in an orphanage, and a deep bond and hierarchy formed when Minna protected them as the leader of this abandoned gang of youths. When a mysterious case Minna is pursuing goes awry, he is shot. He dies, but not before whispering an enigmatic phrase to Lionel and his colleague Gilbert (Ethan Suplee). Thus begins Lionel\u2019s search for justice.<\/p>\n
Lionel\u2019s sleuthing first leads him to Laura Rose (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a beautiful, passionate lawyer-in-training who works with Gabby Horwitz (Cherry Jones). They are both fighting gentrification. Poor and minority neighbourhoods are being forcibly demolished across the city. Pretending to be a journalist writing on behalf of displaced residents, Lionel gets tipped off about a Trump-esque supervillain, Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin). Oddball protester Paul (Willem Dafoe) sends Lionel down a series of rabbit holes. What was Minna investigating before his death? And who was embroiled in this deep web of corruption? Lionel goes to dark places to find out.<\/p>\n
At this stage, it is well over twenty years since we have heard the monotonous voiceover of Edward Norton as the nameless protagonist of\u00a0Fight Club. Stylistically, the Norton VO dialogue of\u00a0Motherless Brooklyn\u00a0sparks strong memories of this past iconic role. Almost unshakeable. Almost. <\/p>\n
This is a narrative driven by formal dialogue and heavy exposition. The clue-searching portion of the film – which, to be fair, is almost all of it, allows little space for evolution among the many characters. And it’s a shame too with such strong actors in the line up, that the women in particularly are underwritten. This is most notable with the idealistic, flawless love interest (the standard twenty years younger than her beau) and the bitch gold-digger, who is selfish to the point of comic relief. <\/p>\n
And yet, this film is still an enjoyable watch, likely driven by that dynamic ensemble. Willis, Mbatha-Raw, Cannavale, Jones, Baldwin and Dafoe all bring their usual A game. However, it is Leslie Mann as Frank\u2019s widow who creates great moments of humour, especially in such a small role. Her choices? Norton’s direction? We’ll never know, but worth the entry\/rental fee. And of course, Norton does not sell himself short with his portrayal of Lionel (and his many tics). Lionel is embodied with the lightest splattering of charisma and vulnerability; he’s jarring at first, but then his awkward charm becomes somewhat endearing.<\/p>\n
The striking visual themes are all elevated by the outstanding, immersive production design. This won production designer Beth Mickle a Satellite Award for her efforts. Also a shout-out to Irish artist Jill Beecher who served on this project as concept illustrator. <\/p>\n
There is a timely nature to the politics as depicted: elites, swamps, classism – it’s all there. Ultimately, Motherless Brooklyn\u00a0is a labour of love that was at least worth the birth.<\/p>\n
In cinemas 1st November 2019. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DIR\/WRI: Edward Norton \u2022 DOP: Dick Pope \u2022 ED: Joe Klotz \u2022 PRO: Michael Bederman, Sue Kroll, Bill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-254288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}