My
second American crime drama of late reinforces my theory that a film with a decent
well-written story, that’s well told and has a cast of actors that can depict a
believable scenario cannot fail to entertain the viewer, be it at the cinema or
on its DVD release. The film under discussion is The Drop released in the
UK at the end of 2014 and sadly has the distinction of being James Gandolfini’s
final appearance in a feature film, an actor that will be fondly remembered for
his role of Tony Soprano in the award winning HBO series The Sopranos.
Denis
Lehane not only wrote the short story, Animal
Rescue, upon which the film is based, but also wrote the movies screenplay.
Boston born Lehane has already had three other stories successfully adapted for
the screen, the Clint Eastwood helmed Mystic
River (2003), Gone
Baby Gone (2007) with Ben Affleck directing his brother Casey in a
Kenzie and Gennaro mystery thriller and in 2010 Martin Scorsese directed
Leonardo DiCaprio in the psychological thriller Shutter
Island. Lehane writing is always
solid with some great characterizations and The
Drop is no exception. Directed by Belgian born Michael R Roskam, who had
only directed one feature film prior to this one, the well regarded and Academy
Nominated Bullhead (2011) and
starring as well as Gandolfini British actor Tom Hardy, Swedish actress Noomi
Repace and star of Roskams debut film Matthias Schoenaerts.
This
gripping and absorbing thriller centres on the autistic Bob Saginowski (very
convincingly acted by Hardy who seems to get better in every movie) who works
at his cousin Marv’s (Gandolfini) Brooklyn Bar. The bar is no longer owned by
Marv but by some unsavoury Chechens who use it as a drop/collection point for
the mobs money. Marv wants retribution for loosing his bar and plans to rob the
bar of its rich pickings on Super Bowl night. Going home from work late one
night Bob discovers a brutalised abandoned Pit Bull puppy in his neighbour
Nadia’s (Repace) dustbin, when Bob rescues this dog he could not realise what
the implications would be, some of which involve Eric Deeds (Schoenaerts), an
ex con who claims responsibility for a ten year old unsolved murder, Deeds also
claims he is the true owner of the dog!
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