Some movies grab you by the collar. This one puts a hand on your shoulder, firmly, and never takes it off.
Tom Hardy plays Bob, a bartender at a Brooklyn dive who says as little as humanly possible. That’s the whole trick. But if you watch his face you can see him working three moves ahead.
The setup is lean. The bar is a drop bar: mob money gets stashed there on certain nights. Some guys rob it. Now Bob is standing between the cops, the criminals, and a boss running out of patience. The tension lives entirely in conversation.
James Gandolfini is extraordinary as Cousin Marv, a man who used to matter and can’t make peace with the fact that he doesn’t. Knowing it’s one of his last roles makes it heavier, but the sadness is right there in the work regardless. Noomi Rapace plays someone hurt enough to be careful about everything, and she nails that guardedness without overselling it.
What stayed with me is the dog. Bob finds a beat-up puppy in a trash can early on, and how he handles that animal tells you more about him than any monologue could.
Dennis Lehane adapted his own story, and it shows. Every character gets treated like a real person, even the ones with one scene.
If quiet and patient films are up your alley then clear an evening for this one.
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