Does anyone remember that classic episode of Seinfeld where George goes out on a date with Marisa Tomei, the Oscar winning actress, because somehow he found out she likes short, fat, bald men? She was very cute then, with her raven hair swept up in a twist and her bangs flattened down against her forehead - sophisticated even. HH and I just rented "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (an unrelentingly dark film by Sidney Lumet, the amazing director of "Serpico" and "Dog Day Afternoon" - two other dark, sad films) and Miss Tomei had some nude scenes in it In the first scene we see her in with Philip Seymour Hoffmann, I didn't recognize her. I thought she was some young up-and-coming actress who had a Marisa Tomei thing going on. HH noticed who she was.
She...looks...fabulous. I mean, even by Hollywood standards which are pretty darn high, she looked fantastic! If I had that body and skin, I would totally do nude scenes. Not that I have much of an opportunity as a writer of young adult novels to be in a nude scene but I think you know what I'm saying.
Ah, but the film...well, the film itself is very well-cast: Hoffmann and Ethan Hawke are perfect in their roles as brothers with a long painful history and Albert Finney is terrific in the role of their dad who suffers such a loss when his wife is shot during a robbery. This movie starts dark and gets darker and darker and darker and you wonder if anyone will end up happy and the answer is, frankly, no. What on earth could you expect after the film opens the way it does? I felt completely drained after watching this movie and had to watch an episode of Dexter to cheer me up afterward.
