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Review: Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
This was a typical noir movie but I thought it was pretty well done and quite enjoyed it. Spoilers.
I read that this movie was Edward Norton's passion project, and it showed. He was the main protagonist as well as the producer and director. But most importantly, I thought he did a really good job in all of these roles. The film felt pretty complete and crisp in terms of quality, and the acting was great in all regards.
Story
I read that the novel was actually set in contemporary times, but Norton adapted it to be set in the fifties. In any case, nothing seemed odd about the time setting.
Like most noir mysteries, the detective was not part of law enforcement. Lionel pursued the truth in order to understand why Frank died. Frank who was his mentor figure for much of his life. Eventually, he uncovered the truth and fell in love along the way.
Other than a mystery movie, this was also a personal story about Lionel. His sense of love and being changed throughout the course of the movie. Through getting to know Laura, Lionel began to understand that there are causes that are worth fighting for. He'd only learned to look out for himself, and I think that's something he subconsciously picked up from Frank, seeing as how Frank had been in on a deal with Lieberman.
While Lionel appreciated Frank for what he'd done for him, he also came to realize that Frank had his flaws, but I don't think he hated Frank for that. Like Laura pointed out, Frank still looked out for him even in death.
In the last scene, Lionel recalled something that Frank had said to him, but he couldn't remember when he'd said it to him. I think it was a definite signal that Lionel had learned some things during this movie. He used to have a perfect memory, and his deductive reasoning skills have been trained by Frank. Through getting to know Laura, Lionel learned what it's like to want to care for and protect someone else using his own capabilities.
Writing
I thought that the story was paced pretty well. The movie was over 2 hours long but I didn't feel that the story dragged at any point. It was probably necessary for the film to be that long, seeing as how it was adapted from a book.
Characters
The acting was superb in this movie. I thought it was interesting that several of the actors are more well-known for their comedic performances, such as Alec Baldwin and Leslie Mann. I felt that the actors were able to put their own personal spins on characters to make them more charming. Otherwise, these characters might've felt like generic noir characters. So much kudos to the extremely robust cast.
Lionel Essrog
Lionel was portrayed to be a very sympathetic character. We saw that he was trying to get to the bottom of everything because of how much Frank meant to him. We also watched him fall in love with Laura.
While Lionel was smart and a bit of a trickster, we also saw that he had his own insecurities, including his Tourette's syndrom. Actually, it was interesting that he seemed so insecure at Billy's club when Laura asked him to join her and then to dance with her, because I usually wouldn't have expected that from a guy who otherwise seemed sure of himself. And while he was a bachelor character, he wasn't portrayed as an asshole, which is key.
I've enjoyed Edward Norton in a lot of his performances and this movie was no different. I think the character of Lionel played to his strengths, as a smart but not overbearing character.
Frank Minna
I half expected Frank Minna to come back, seeing as how they'd casted Bruce Willis, usually a star, to play him. But ultimately he was solely a supporting character, but a very important one.
Frank was the reason that Lionel kept digging and digging into the corruption surrounding city planning. I don't think Frank was ever a bad person. Even after Lionel uncovered the truth, I felt that he not necessarily an evil man, but just an opportunistic and greedy man.
Frank had expected Lionel to uncover the truth and left him the deed to his beach house in the locker at Penn Station. I think he also expected Lionel to learn (during the investigation) that he himself was a flawed person, but to take that knowledge with himself as wisdom on how a person should conduct himself. I think Frank knew that what he was doing wasn't right and he wanted to communicate that to Lionel.
Laura Rose
Laura was the illegitimate daughter of Moses Randolph. Her cause was to protect the Black community from being evicted from their homes with nowhere to go. As we saw during the movie, they were basically intimidated into leaving their homes. When they applied for relocation, their forms were literally thrown into the trash. Laura inspired Lionel to be the kind of person who'd do the right thing to protect other people.
At various times in the movie, we also saw Laura stroke Lionel's back or nape, which calmed his Tourette's. Lionel said that his mother used to do that for him and he used to feel better. I think it was the first time that someone had noticed that that made him feel better too. In the end, Laura and Lionel reunited at the beach house :3
Moses Randolph
He was the big bad guy of the story. He had a vision of a highly urbanized and connected city, and he was willing to do anything to reach it. He felt that the means didn't matter because after he built his marvellous creations, the people of the city wouldn't care about the illegal dealings anyway.
That also showed in his personal relationships, seeing as how he viewed Laura's mother. He raped her the first time, but he said that he'd continued to give her gifts and she was grateful for them. There were likely many reasons that she didn't leave her job at the hotel (such as needing the paycheck), but that wasn't anything that Moses would've considered anyway.
He also ruined his brother Paul. I can't pinpoint on the exact reason, but I think it's a combination of Moses refusing to acknowledge his child, and Moses going through illegal means to get his buildings done.
Moses struck up a deal with Lionel. Lionel said that as long as Moses didn't do anything to hurt Laura, then he'd keep the confidential information confidential (that being the shady contracts, as well as Laura's birth certificate). However, being inspired by Laura to do the right thing, Lionel mailed the documents to a newspaper reporter anyway.
Paul Randolph
Paul was Moses' brother. He was a brilliant engineer but was somehow living in very modest means. It was implied that his brother ruined him. On the outside, Paul hated what his brother stood for. He'd rallied the crowd against his brother in a town hall meeting and we saw Moses castigate Paul for that afterwards.
Lionel questioned Paul on why he didn't expose his brother, and we saw the truth of it. Despite hating what his brother stood for, Paul had a dream and it could only be achieved by Moses. He'd drawn up a plan for city renovations. The way to interpret would be that the only way that Paul could get eyes on his plan was through his brother. If his brother wasn't the man in charge, it'd be a pain getting his plan through to city planners, who'd then have to get approved by several other bureaus, etc. Moses was Paul's only chance at getting his dream realized.
Paul was a pretty realistic character in his hypocrisy. While he hated Moses' evil ways, there were some aspects of the system that he used to his personal benefit.
Tony Vermonte
Tony was a fellow investigator who took over L&L after Frank died. From the get go, it was pretty obvious that he was sleeping with Julia, Frank's wife. She put him in charge after Frank's death.
We saw that Tony was more concerned with the money issues than the interesting cases. And it was later revealed that he was working for Moses, which was to be expected. He tried to convince Lionel to take Moses' deal but Lionel wasn't having any of it.
Billy Rose
He was Laura's uncle. He basically raised her after her mother died and she had no father. At first, Billy hated Lionel because he thought he was with Moses, who'd done nothing to help their community.
After he realized that he was an investigator previously under Frank, he tried to meet up to exchange notes, but he was killed. His death was staged to look like a suicide but it was obviously not to anybody who knew Billy.
Trumpet Player
The trumpet player saved Laura and Lionel after they were cornered on the roof of her apartment. He'd struck up a rapport with Lionel after Lionel had been beat up by Billy outside of the club. A cool dude.
Overall
I thought this was an extremely enjoyable movie. The acting was great, and everything about the story was crisp with a bit of charm. I would definitely recommend it.
I read that this movie was Edward Norton's passion project, and it showed. He was the main protagonist as well as the producer and director. But most importantly, I thought he did a really good job in all of these roles. The film felt pretty complete and crisp in terms of quality, and the acting was great in all regards.
Story
I read that the novel was actually set in contemporary times, but Norton adapted it to be set in the fifties. In any case, nothing seemed odd about the time setting.
Like most noir mysteries, the detective was not part of law enforcement. Lionel pursued the truth in order to understand why Frank died. Frank who was his mentor figure for much of his life. Eventually, he uncovered the truth and fell in love along the way.
Other than a mystery movie, this was also a personal story about Lionel. His sense of love and being changed throughout the course of the movie. Through getting to know Laura, Lionel began to understand that there are causes that are worth fighting for. He'd only learned to look out for himself, and I think that's something he subconsciously picked up from Frank, seeing as how Frank had been in on a deal with Lieberman.
While Lionel appreciated Frank for what he'd done for him, he also came to realize that Frank had his flaws, but I don't think he hated Frank for that. Like Laura pointed out, Frank still looked out for him even in death.
In the last scene, Lionel recalled something that Frank had said to him, but he couldn't remember when he'd said it to him. I think it was a definite signal that Lionel had learned some things during this movie. He used to have a perfect memory, and his deductive reasoning skills have been trained by Frank. Through getting to know Laura, Lionel learned what it's like to want to care for and protect someone else using his own capabilities.
Writing
I thought that the story was paced pretty well. The movie was over 2 hours long but I didn't feel that the story dragged at any point. It was probably necessary for the film to be that long, seeing as how it was adapted from a book.
Characters
The acting was superb in this movie. I thought it was interesting that several of the actors are more well-known for their comedic performances, such as Alec Baldwin and Leslie Mann. I felt that the actors were able to put their own personal spins on characters to make them more charming. Otherwise, these characters might've felt like generic noir characters. So much kudos to the extremely robust cast.
Lionel Essrog
Lionel was portrayed to be a very sympathetic character. We saw that he was trying to get to the bottom of everything because of how much Frank meant to him. We also watched him fall in love with Laura.
While Lionel was smart and a bit of a trickster, we also saw that he had his own insecurities, including his Tourette's syndrom. Actually, it was interesting that he seemed so insecure at Billy's club when Laura asked him to join her and then to dance with her, because I usually wouldn't have expected that from a guy who otherwise seemed sure of himself. And while he was a bachelor character, he wasn't portrayed as an asshole, which is key.
I've enjoyed Edward Norton in a lot of his performances and this movie was no different. I think the character of Lionel played to his strengths, as a smart but not overbearing character.
Frank Minna
I half expected Frank Minna to come back, seeing as how they'd casted Bruce Willis, usually a star, to play him. But ultimately he was solely a supporting character, but a very important one.
Frank was the reason that Lionel kept digging and digging into the corruption surrounding city planning. I don't think Frank was ever a bad person. Even after Lionel uncovered the truth, I felt that he not necessarily an evil man, but just an opportunistic and greedy man.
Frank had expected Lionel to uncover the truth and left him the deed to his beach house in the locker at Penn Station. I think he also expected Lionel to learn (during the investigation) that he himself was a flawed person, but to take that knowledge with himself as wisdom on how a person should conduct himself. I think Frank knew that what he was doing wasn't right and he wanted to communicate that to Lionel.
Laura Rose
Laura was the illegitimate daughter of Moses Randolph. Her cause was to protect the Black community from being evicted from their homes with nowhere to go. As we saw during the movie, they were basically intimidated into leaving their homes. When they applied for relocation, their forms were literally thrown into the trash. Laura inspired Lionel to be the kind of person who'd do the right thing to protect other people.
At various times in the movie, we also saw Laura stroke Lionel's back or nape, which calmed his Tourette's. Lionel said that his mother used to do that for him and he used to feel better. I think it was the first time that someone had noticed that that made him feel better too. In the end, Laura and Lionel reunited at the beach house :3
Moses Randolph
He was the big bad guy of the story. He had a vision of a highly urbanized and connected city, and he was willing to do anything to reach it. He felt that the means didn't matter because after he built his marvellous creations, the people of the city wouldn't care about the illegal dealings anyway.
That also showed in his personal relationships, seeing as how he viewed Laura's mother. He raped her the first time, but he said that he'd continued to give her gifts and she was grateful for them. There were likely many reasons that she didn't leave her job at the hotel (such as needing the paycheck), but that wasn't anything that Moses would've considered anyway.
He also ruined his brother Paul. I can't pinpoint on the exact reason, but I think it's a combination of Moses refusing to acknowledge his child, and Moses going through illegal means to get his buildings done.
Moses struck up a deal with Lionel. Lionel said that as long as Moses didn't do anything to hurt Laura, then he'd keep the confidential information confidential (that being the shady contracts, as well as Laura's birth certificate). However, being inspired by Laura to do the right thing, Lionel mailed the documents to a newspaper reporter anyway.
Paul Randolph
Paul was Moses' brother. He was a brilliant engineer but was somehow living in very modest means. It was implied that his brother ruined him. On the outside, Paul hated what his brother stood for. He'd rallied the crowd against his brother in a town hall meeting and we saw Moses castigate Paul for that afterwards.
Lionel questioned Paul on why he didn't expose his brother, and we saw the truth of it. Despite hating what his brother stood for, Paul had a dream and it could only be achieved by Moses. He'd drawn up a plan for city renovations. The way to interpret would be that the only way that Paul could get eyes on his plan was through his brother. If his brother wasn't the man in charge, it'd be a pain getting his plan through to city planners, who'd then have to get approved by several other bureaus, etc. Moses was Paul's only chance at getting his dream realized.
Paul was a pretty realistic character in his hypocrisy. While he hated Moses' evil ways, there were some aspects of the system that he used to his personal benefit.
Tony Vermonte
Tony was a fellow investigator who took over L&L after Frank died. From the get go, it was pretty obvious that he was sleeping with Julia, Frank's wife. She put him in charge after Frank's death.
We saw that Tony was more concerned with the money issues than the interesting cases. And it was later revealed that he was working for Moses, which was to be expected. He tried to convince Lionel to take Moses' deal but Lionel wasn't having any of it.
Billy Rose
He was Laura's uncle. He basically raised her after her mother died and she had no father. At first, Billy hated Lionel because he thought he was with Moses, who'd done nothing to help their community.
After he realized that he was an investigator previously under Frank, he tried to meet up to exchange notes, but he was killed. His death was staged to look like a suicide but it was obviously not to anybody who knew Billy.
Trumpet Player
The trumpet player saved Laura and Lionel after they were cornered on the roof of her apartment. He'd struck up a rapport with Lionel after Lionel had been beat up by Billy outside of the club. A cool dude.
Overall
I thought this was an extremely enjoyable movie. The acting was great, and everything about the story was crisp with a bit of charm. I would definitely recommend it.