Wednesday, September 11, 2019

TIFF 2019: Motherless Brooklyn



Edward Norton directs and stars in Motherless Brooklyn, a detective/film-noir adaptation of the Jonathan Lethem book. That makes two great books I've read turned into movies at this year's festival (The Goldfinch was the other), and so far they have been my two favourite films.

Norton is Lionel Essrog, one of a few employees of L & L Investigations trying to figure out why their boss (played briefly by Bruce Willis) has come to an unfortunate end, and pick up the pieces of the investigation that led him there. Alec Baldwin plays the bad guy, and Willem Dafoe adds to the impressive cast; Norton said before the film that they all worked for scale to help him get the unconventional film made. Essrog has Tourette Syndrome, which produces involuntary tics and vocal outbursts, sometimes quite inappropriate. Despite the condition, Essrog functions normally and is generally well-accepted by those around him, and his phenomenal memory makes him a valuable member of the detective firm.

Although the novel was set in the 1990's, Norton takes it back to the '50s to put it back in its genre, and it works beautifully. The cars, the New York skyline and the costumes support the mood of the film, and one scene in a diner reminded me of an Edward Hopper painting.

Norton is the centre of the film, appearing in almost every scene, and he keeps the action moving. The film is not short at 144 minutes, but it never dragged, and the characters and scenery supported a great performance by him. Great film!


TIFF 2019 Overview

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