Loading ...Movie Review - Miller’s Crossing
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1990 / 115 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Jason Jones
“Sister, when I’ve raised hell, you’ll know it.”
Meet Tom, a man who, much like Pinhead, invests a large amount of his time raising hell. His is a life of turmoil that only he can resolve. His turmoil consists of a motley crue of thugs, scum and even a disenchanted mistress to whom the above line is spoken. He eventually does raise hell, but it wasn’t anything that I found to be compelling, which is just one of this film’s many problems.
“Miller’s Crossing” follows in the rich tradition of mob films that have come before it, even going so far as to introduce itself in the same manner as “The Godfather” with a protectee making a proposal to their protector.
The protector, in this case, being Leo (Albert Finney) and the protectee a man by the name of Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). Leo is at the head of the table, but the aforementioned Tom (Gabriel Byrne) is his right hand man. Leo does a lot of hollering and usually ends up making the decisions, but Tom is the man behind the scenes who does the thinking for Leo and helps guide him to the proper decisions. Caspar, on the other hand, is none too happy with the fact that Leo will not cater to his desire to have a lowlife named Bernie (John Turturro) put out of his misery. Caspar being the hot-headed Italian that he is chooses to burn the bridges between himself and Leo, so that he can go out on his own.
This part of the story is countered with the relationship between Tom and Leo and the woman they love, Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). Tom and Verna have been laying a little pipe on the side despite the fact that Leo and Verna had been seeing each other. This continues until Leo is about to make a decision without knowing all the facts. Tom discloses to Leo that he has been sleeping with Verna. This leads to Leo burning the bridges that bind him and Tom by beating the crap out of him and essentially saying that he never wants to see him again.
Tom has made a real mess of things and he knows it. He knows that there is only one way to set things straight again. This is what the second part of the film centers on. Bodies will pile up, lines will be drawn in the proverbial sand and ties will be severed as Tom attempts to rectify the situation that he is responsible for.
Like most Coen brothers movies this movie’s primary flaw is that it doesn’t seem to do anything. I oftentimes find myself asking the question, “What’s the point?” I have seen five of their movies now and, for the most part they are competent, but all lack a sense of direction.
My favorite film of theirs, “The Big Lebowski”, is as pointless and directionless as any of their other films, but the lack of purpose and direction serves the film, because that is what makes the central character of the film, “The Dude”, who he is. His life is without purpose and direction, thus the Coen mantra is well served in the case of “The Big Lebowski”. Here, however, it does not work. It has ingredients that we have seen done many times before and with much more clarity and efficiency. The love triangle, loss of trust between friends and the guy who is trying to make things right again are all intangibles present in this film that, if done properly, could have lended themselves to creating a thoughtful film of the same ilk as the other great mob films. Instead it languishes in it’s own self righteous world choosing to do things at a pace that can be described as tedious at best.
There are few moments that I can even describe as memorable from this film. The only one that really comes to mind is when Bernie is begging Tom to spare his life. It is a simple scene shot in a wooded area which gives it a sense of detachment from the rest of the film. Listening to Bernie’s shrieking and whimpering amidst the limbs of trees that have undoubtedly heard these pleadings before, the viewer is given the impression that we are about to witness a revelation. This is exactly what we are treated to, but unfortunately we get little more of this throughout the rest of the film.
The remainder of the film is comprised of some interesting cinematography that reminded me greatly of Sergio Leone’s mob epic “Once Upon a Time in America”. The dark brooding nature of the locales, the way the camera hangs on the nuances of a character’s mere facial movements for minutes at a time and the way the camera is put in places to give us clues about the future are all reminiscent of Leone’s work. There are also moments that made me think of Hitchcock’s work in “Psycho”, such as the scene involving the camera and the staircase. Unfortunately the Coens manage to take this fine cinematography and put it to little use.
The one thing that managed to keep me awake for the full extent of the film was the wonderful performances of it’s fine actors. I expected great acting when I decided to watch this film and great acting is exactly what I got. Albert Finney, Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden and John Turturro all turn in performances that can only be described as top-shelf. It was interesting to watch Finney sink his teeth into the role of a mob boss. He does an admirable job of conveying the authority of the position, as well as a vulnerable side that is grounded in the emotions that exist between Tom, Verna and himself. Byrne turns in his usual fine performance as the physical and emotional center of the film, Tom. Recent Academy Award winner Harden manages to lend a level of dignity to Verna, a woman who is known to sleep with just about anyone who will give her the time of day. Lastly, a staple factor in Coen films, John Turturro portraying a weasel of a character as usual. He can pretty much play this sort of character in his sleep nowadays thanks to his work in this film. These fine performances are oftentimes undermined by a script that is so in love with itself that it won’t give it’s actors room to breathe. The dialogue rambles on, criss-crossing itself at every opportunity leaving the viewer to make sense out of the mish-mash of nonsense that has just been perpetrated upon them.
There was very little about this film that held my interest. Even the few set pieces that are on display here leave one longing for more. Such as the ambush at Leo’s place. Just when I thought things might get interesting the film fired a blank and left me behind longing for much more than I had received. There were many times when I had to fight to stay awake thanks to the film’s laborious pacing. This is not a film that should be avoided at all costs, but should only be seen if your local video store is out of “Once Upon a Time in America”, “The Untouchables”, “Casino”, “Goodfellas” all three parts of “The Godfather” and your need for a mob film is so great that you cannot make it through another day without seeing one. Otherwise, I would recommend looking elsewhere for mob thrills and hell raising, because “Miller’s Crossing” is a film that delivers on neither premise.
