25th Hour (2002)

                 

A man has one day to put his life in order before a long stretch in prison in this drama directed by Spike Lee. Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is a man who came from a working class family in New York. Monty's best friends Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) went on to distinguished careers as, respectively, a high school teacher and a bonds trader, but Monty took a different path and began dealing drugs. While Monty's trade has made him plenty of money, it hasn't brought him much respect from his family and friends, and while Jacob and Slaughtery have stayed in touch, Monty's lifestyle has led them to keep their distance. One night, Monty is relaxing at home with his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) when the police show up; Monty is arrested, and after a trial he's sentenced to seven years in prison. On his last day of freedom before he goes to jail, Monty tries to make amends with his father (Brian Cox) and goes out on the town with Jacob and Slaughtery. With both of his friends facing emotional crises of their own, Monty finds himself wondering where his life took a wrong turn and if there's any way left to redeem himself. Along the way, Monty begins to suspect that Naturelle may have turned him in, and he has to deal with Kostya Novotny (Tony Siragusa), an ill-tempered drug supplier who has unfinished business with him. 25th Hour was scripted by David Benioff, who adapted the story from his novel of the same name.

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Review By Derek Armstrong

It's no surprise that a consummate New York filmmaker -- especially one who wears his heart on his sleeve -- should direct the first mainstream film that wrestles openly with the aftermath of September 11th. Less expected was that Spike Lee would so cleverly absorb those themes into the subtext of an unrelated story about a pinched drug dealer, Monty Brogan (Edward Norton), indulging his final freedoms before going up the river. Granted, Lee's trademark sledgehammer approach does have its moments in The 25th Hour, such as when Monty's rage erupts in the form of a diatribe against New York's spectrum of ethnic and socioeconomic archetypes, an echo of Do The Right Thing. However, the fact that this aggressive defamation of the city's populace doubles as an ode to its diversity gets at the contradictory nature of post-traumatic New York -- it's more wary and distrustful than ever, yet eager to rebound toward glory. Norton's Monty Brogan serves as a stand-in for the American people, his complacency destroyed by a rude awakening, then quickly replaced by fears of a murky future. Norton leads a dynamite ensemble that includes typically strong performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin, Rosario Dawson, and Brian Cox, as well as a career-best showing from Barry Pepper as Monty's best friend, a hotshot broker bound to the condemned man for one last favor. As always, Lee's provocative dolly shots, long takes, and collage-like edits make his camera a vital addition to the cast, able to frame this loss of innocence in all of the city's familiar corners. And in the film's memorable coda, Lee does find that magic hour, the home of something he and other shell-shocked Americans desperately need: illogical hope.