Motherless Brooklyn inhabits the world of film noir so completely the concept seems to have been created just to describe it. The film is set in the damp, drizzly November of the New York soul of 1957.
Directed by: Edward Norton
Screenplay by: Edward Norton
Based on Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
With: Edward Norton as Lionel Essrog, Bruce Willis as Frank Minna, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Laura Rose, Alec Baldwin as Moses Randolph, Willem Dafoe as Paul Randolph, Bobby Cannavale as Tony Vermonte, Cherry Jones as Gabby Horowitz, Michael K. Williams as Trumpet Man.
Think of Motherless Brooklyn as Chinatown East. City Planner Moses Randolph is combination of Noah Cross and the real-life Robert Moses & Fred Trump added in for sleaze. Paul Randolph is Hollis I. Mulwray. Laura Rose is Katherine Cross. None to be taken in the literal sense.
Millions are being made from public funds and few seem to be watching. Even less care. The tenacious detective, no Jakes Gittes, he, no crusader, simply wants justice for his friend and savior, Frank Minna. No, ain’t askin’ much. Frank overplayed his hand as a shamus and took one in the breadbasket for his trouble. “Minna’s the name, gumshoe’s the game.”
“Motherless Brooklyn” Lionel Essrog was a punching bag for the nuns at an orphanage destined to a life on the skids when saved by Frank Minna to become a private eye. One of Minna’s Boys (like Minnie Marx’s Boys?). He’s more like Millers Crossing’s Tom Reagan (Keep that under your hat.) Essrog’s afflicted with Tourette syndrome, and blessed with an eidetic memory; hardly a fair trade, you’ll likely agree.
The MacGuffin here is an envelope containing???
Add in a pretty good jazz band and we’re ready to start. Reviewers afflicted with a television mentality complained of the film’s length at 2 hours 24 minutes, not realizing in their cinematic ignorance the complex plot took time to play out. They seem to suffer with Nystagmus, and the resultant short attention span. (“I want MTV!”).
The story was well structured enjoying believable dialogue. (Note, the keen-eyed viewer will suspect the location of the MacGuffin in the first reel). The sound effects effects job is first rate, and the actor’s performances are uniformly excellent. Special note of Norton’s Lionel Essrog.
Director has good eye and his shots are well composed, framed with a cinematic sensibility of mind, using the grammar of the medium as it should be employed. Good use to two shots and close-ups have a purpose over then simple coverage. No shot in this film remotely suggests simple coverage. He’s not afraid to set a shot run a bit before a cut.
The neglect of this masterpiece by the newest of masters is an indictment of the vapid soul plaguing the of Hollywood of today. The gimmicky and derivative movies by Tarantino and his ilk are celebrated while this superior addition to noir cinema drifts unclaimed by today’s so-called film critics.
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