REVIEWS
Reviews edited by Mark Adams
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Lawless By Mike Goodridge
John Hillcoat’s latest movie is a well-paced and entertaining story of bootlegging in 1931 Virginia, skilfully adapted by Nick Cave from Matt Bondu- rant’s 2008 novel, The Wettest County In The World. But if the film will boost Hillcoat’s stock as a com- mercial director, it is lacking in both the poetry that infused The Proposition and The Road, and the mythic quality of many other retro 1930s gangster pictures, from Bonnie And Clyde to The Untouchables. A superb cast of hot young actors led by Shia
LaBeouf and Tom Hardy, and the clout of The Wein- stein Company, which will no doubt push it out wide in the US, will ensure strong initial returns from Lawless. But several factors will hamper its prospects in the US and internationally, from the often unintel- ligible Southern accents to the graphic violence. It is likely to perform better in arthouses than in com- mercial circuits, attracting upscale audiences over the teen crowd. Bondurant’s book is based on the exploits of his
grandfather Jack Bondurant and his brothers, For- rest and Howard, a trio of bootlegging siblings who ruled the illegal whisky manufacturing and distri- bution trade in Franklin County. The film aligns all the drama into one year — 1931 — in the height of Prohibition. Jack (LaBeouf) is the youngster of the three, des-
perate to be taken seriously by his brothers and start doing some illegal runs across county lines. Wit- nessing Chicago gangster Floyd Banner (Oldman) mow down two cops one day, he longs for a piece of the action. Forrest (Hardy), a brooding silent type with a knuckleduster in his pocket and a head for business, runs the show, while Howard (Clarke), a
n 20 Screen International at Cannes May 20, 2012
COMPETITION
US. 2012. 115mins Director John Hillcoat Production companies Red Wagon Productions, Annapurna Pictures, Benaroya Pictures, Blum Hanson Allen Films International sales FilmNation, www.
wearefilmnation.com Producers Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Michael Benaroya, Megan Ellison Screenplay Nick Cave Cinematography Benoit Delhomme Production designer Chris Kennedy Editor Dylan Tichenor Music Nick Cave, Warren Ellis Main cast Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman, Noah Taylor
giant of a man damaged in the war and perpetually drunk, is the heavy who protects the operation. But when a new county attorney decides he wants
a piece of the action, he imports an FBI agent called Charley Rakes (Pearce) to make sure the bootleggers hand over some of their income to the police. Forrest won’t play ball, causing Rakes to start a war against the Bondurants. It starts with him beating Jack senseless; then two of his men slit Forrest’s throat. But the brothers have a reputation for being
invincible. Forrest survives and, while he is in hospi- tal, Jack proves his worth by making a delivery to Floyd Banner and scoring a good price. Meanwhile Jack has his eye on Bertha (Wasikowska), and For- rest develops a grunting affection for Maggie (Chas- tain), who tends his gas station/bootlegging HQ. Hillcoat moves the drama along at a brisk pace
towards the inevitable confrontation between Rakes and his men, and the Bondurants. Cave’s screenplay is a skilful linear adaptation of a book which is any- thing but, tweaking facts and timelines to fit the single-year scale of the film, while maintaining the key setpieces and rich characters. The story, however, limits the visual or philosoph- ical explorations that have graced Hillcoat’s oeuvre
to date. While Bondurant’s book ached with the pain of the Depression and beauty of the Virginia moun- tains, Hillcoat’s film plays it mainstream. Casting, however, is excellent. LaBeouf shows
that he is maturing as an actor, while Hardy posi- tively oozes charisma as the uber-masculine Forrest. The Howard role is reduced to third fiddle, giving more room for the female characters, and both Jes- sica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska demonstrate once again why they are so in demand. Guy Pearce, on the other hand, seems an uncom-
fortable fit for the Rakes character — an embodi- ment of several characters from the book. Fine actor though he is, his two-dimensional bad guy does not work alongside the nuances of the other characters. In fact, the right side of the law does not get a good airing in Lawless, which falls guilty of over-glamour- ising the bootleggers right through to a corny coda in 1940. Our heroes are the sweetest ruthless killers you ever did see, and anyone challenging them is evil personified. For all the bloody violence here, there is scant danger in evidence for these gangsters.
SCREEN SCORE ★★
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