25th Hour (2002)

Netflix uses the term "post-9/11" in its description of this movie, which may have played a subconscious part in my queue ordering. While the story does take place in New York City, the only sign of anything related to 9/11 comes when protagonist Monty (Edward Norton) cusses out Osama bin Laden. Along with various groups and individuals in NYC. And Jesus. And finally himself.

Monty's not much happier than that for the rest of the movie, in which the DEA has found drugs in his apartment and he has a day left to party and say his goodbyes before turning himself in. (Yes, the law can work that way, though the federal agents shouldn't have mentioned the Rockefeller drug laws.) From the title, I had expected an action-packed thriller, not a drama. In fact, it's less a story than a character study, with a fair amount of focus on the quiet troubles of his friends Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Frank (Barry Pepper) and his father (Brian Cox) as they prepare to see him off, not knowing whether he'll spend seven years in prison, run away forever, or commit suicide.

A further surprise to me is that Spike Lee directed this "joint." If he has a signature, it's concern for minorities, especially black people, as reflected by his 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks company. There are no major black characters in 25th Hour, unless you count mixed-race Rosario Dawson as Monty's Puerto Rican girlfriend, Naturelle, whom he suspects of ratting on him. (EDIT: The leading agent who catches Monty is black, but he has only a couple scenes and is so cliche that I forgot about him when I first posted this review.) Race never affects the plot, though several characters make charged statements about an ethnicity or nationality, as if to assure us further that they're jerks. Apart from Naturelle and some of the anonymous rant targets, this applies to several criminal immigrants from the former Soviet Union associated with Monty, one of whom provides mild comic relief with his language difficulties. Smooth.

If Lee has a second signature, it's time jumps, as done in Malcolm X and Inside Man. He doesn't play it to the hilt like Christopher Nolan used to, but I'm still not entirely clear on the order of events in 25th Hour. Just as well that it makes little difference with such a sparse story.

Lee also sometimes experiments in his cinematography. In this case, the camera can spend several minutes without moving. More notably, we get instant replays of a few active moments like hugs. It does nothing to enhance the experience, unless he was going for jarring.

A side plot concerns Jacob and a pretty rebellious student at his high school (Anna Paquin), who fervently wants him to improve her grade and tempts him seductively. This conflict never fully resolves itself, nor does it have anything to do with the rest of the movie. I get the impression that novelist and screenplay writer David Benioff had wanted to write a separate book but couldn't hope to sell it.

I recognize the popularity of 25th Hour. Despite a few commonalities with other Spike Lee joints, it's pretty singular. But you have to be in the mood for a bitter 2 hours and 15 minutes.