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Miller's Crossing (1990)
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Movie Review by Simon
April 29th, 2007
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Lives don't get more complicated than Gabriel Byrne's in this movie. As Tom, the alcoholic adviser to Albert Finney's Irish mob boss Leo, Byrne keeps making life difficult for himself. He's up to his eyes in debt, he's sleeping with his boss's girlfriend, and he finds himself trying to navigate a gang war that Leo has sparked off with the psychopathic Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) and his murderous sidekick, Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman).
The Coen Brothers take this prohibition-era gangster flick and turn it into something special. The film's dialogue snaps with energy, the action hits home with the force of a hammer and the plot grips and doesn't let go. As the anti-hero Tom tries to escape the crossfire that envelops the city he finds himself making strange alliances and using every trick up his sleeve to try to stay alive and one step ahead of the assembled cast.
Coen regular Jon Turturro turns in one of the best performances of his career as scheming bookmaker Bernie Bernbaum, the catalyst to the disaster. Like Tom, he's a man that uses his brain to get ahead, but, lacking Tom's principles, he soon finds himself relying on blackmail and the strength of others to survive. Marcia Gay Harden, the lover of both Tom and Leo, is by turns lustful fire and contemptuous ice, and Spiderman director Sam Raimi gets a brief cameo in a fire-fight scene.
As the Irish and the Italians go head to head the body count rises, the stakes get higher, and Tom, the dark centre of the film, emotionless and cruel, raises hell. Not one to watch with the kids, and close attention has to be paid to follow the intricate windings of Tom's scheming.
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