Dir. Spike Lee, US, 2002, 135 mins
Cast: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox
"New York City has always been an important character in my films" says Spike Lee, and his latest film, 25th Hour, starring Edward Norton and Barry Pepper, is no exception. Adept at tackling strong and often emotive social issues, Lee has courted controversy this time round with his attempt to portray the post 9/11 city.
Lee's credits depict the twin lasers that shone for a time above the skyscrapers and the glowing lights of New York as a memorial to those killed in the World Trade Centre. The sequence brings to mind the opening of Manhattan, by that very different chronicler of New York life, Woody Allen. But whilst Allen's opener - Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, fireworks over the skyline - is triumphant and celebratory, Lee's is sombre and defiant. Director of photography, Rodrigo Prieto (Amores Perros, Frida, 8 Mile) explores the blue beams from many angles, but just as they soar above the city in the final shot of the arrangement, they quietly dissolve into the night sky. In the same vein, the powerful music of Lee's long-term collaborator Terence Blanchard, contains notes of sadness and resilience.
Visually and musically impressive, this sequence initially seems to bear little relation to the plot - David Benioff's novel, on which his own screenplay is based, was written well before September 11th. But as the film progresses we see the many ways, both subtle and brash, in which Lee and Benioff have worked elements of post 9/11 New York life into the film. The story focuses on drug dealer Monty Brogan (Norton) as he prepares to begin a seven-year prison sentence. On his last day of freedom, he must say goodbye to the friends of his childhood - Slaughtery (Pepper) and Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) - and wrestle with the suspicion that his seemingly devoted girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) sold him out to the police. As the hours tick by, Monty and his friends struggle to apportion the blame for his downfall and to face up to their individual responsibilities. In particular, teacher Jacob must decide whether to let his relationship with flirtatious student Mary D'Annunzio (Anna Paquin) move into dangerous territory.
25th Hour is the first film to actively depict post 9/11 New York and its shadow is ever present - from the credits, to a shrine to a New York firehouse in Brogan Snr's bar, to footage of Osama Bin Laden. Norton downplays the political implications: "Of course there's a political context to those events, but there's also an emotional context that has nothing to do with politics. It's something that happened and its part of the fabric of living in that city now."
Indeed the deep bitterness which resounds in America a year-and-a-half on, forms a backdrop, or a "new emotional reality"(Norton), through which Lee weaves Monty's and his friend's own stories of regret. Lee is interested in the expression of such powerful emotions and the consequences of attempts to suppress them.
With 25th Hour Lee rejects Hollywood's all too well trodden path, in favour of a reflective, if somewhat anti-climatic ending, which mocks formulaic expectations. As the film opens, Monty gives an abandoned dog another chance at life, but at the close we are left with the apprehension that Monty may not be so lucky himself. This isn't Maid in Manhattan (filmed in New York at the same time as 25th Hour), it's 'a Spike Lee joint' and as such there may well be no last minute reprieve, no happily ever after. In 25th Hour, nothing is certain except that life isn't that easy.
Interestingly the director has returned to the same events-of-a-single-day device used to immense effect in his break-though film - Do the Right Thing (1989). Yet 25th Hour lacks the conviction which energised this early work, and despite the determined performance of Norton, Monty Brogan, unlike Mookie in Do the Right Thing, fails to provide the interest and the pivotal force necessary to draw the strands of the film together. This is unfortunate as Norton clearly feels strongly about his character and the film as a whole. In response to possible criticisms of his sympathetic portrayal of a drug dealer he says "It's not my instinct to judge a character I'm going to play, I try to judge the piece." A great cast makes 25th Hour very watchable, but this isn't Lee at his best.
Elizabeth Griffin
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