"Live By Night "by Ben Affleck - movie review

"Live By Night "by Ben Affleck is a classic gangster film. Whatever it means today. Not as weak as you may have heard, and if you have not heard anything, you might be interested in having an eye on it. Nevertheless, I do not advise you to meet big expectations, because at least its premiere was in January - the month when the studios throw away their ugly children. The film is an adaptation of the successful novel by Dennis Liahne, "Live by Night." The story unfolds in the first half of the twentieth century and focuses on Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), the son of Boston police chief, who gradually adopts the life of a criminal, turning from a simple smuggler into one of the most influential gangsters. Coughlin has the option of choosing between the Italian and Irish mafia bids, but he chooses to play solo, which causes him headaches further complicated by the fatal Emma (Sienna Miller). His way leads him to Florida, where new challenges and a hot love in Grisiela (Zoe Saldana) face him. Coughlin must answer the question whether he is cruel enough to be the most powerful man on the southern coast. The equation encompasses the lazy police chief (Chris Cooper) and his daughter Loretta (El Fanning), a former drug addict who has discovered the Lord and openly preaches gambling. Yes, yes, there is a Ku Klux Klan.

We have to rest after enumerating so many characters, actors and locations, but perhaps you already find out where one of the weak points of adaptation is - trying to be truthful. I have not read Lyhaine's novel and I would be interested if someone explained in the comments what the differences were, but I had the impression that Affleck covered all the basic threads, which created the feeling of stretching and scattering. This is followed by unwanted side effects such as the overthrow of some characters and sectors. Like the image of Emma (Sienna Miller), for example, which should be some great love for the hero, but we see it so brief at first that we have lost all interest in her fate until the end of the movie. The film has been developing for nearly 20 years, but it does not leave the impression of elapsed time. Everything is dropped, sketched, to cover normative. The very rise of Coughlin to one of the big bosses is unconvincing. We see him chatting with local babies, a couple of car explosions and two or three broken throats, but the feeling that the hero is going through some deep metamorphosis is lost. We do not get to know the hero, a war veteran, a disappointed idealist, a man trying to be a worthy criminal. In fact, Coughlin is a boring good man who is not quite aware of what he is doing with his life. Even his suit stays like a sag. One of the benefits of the wide plaque is diversity. The story follows the road of the Roma on the way back - Boston, Tampa, Havana, which is an interesting and fresh decision on the part of Liahine. In the first part we spend time in Boston, which we know well from other films and we are witnessing a wonderful car race (much slower than the current ones), but in the second part we are near Cuba. There the film completely changes like colors, costumes and scenery, yields a sweet-melancholic feel. One of the most interesting scenes is the religious fanatic Loreta (El Fanning) and the tragic image of her father (Chris Cooper). In this middle part of the movie, the tempo falls in a very pleasant way and the focus lies on the characters and their conversations. The unusually lengthy scenes in which two people speak at lunch or dinner give weight and give the actors the necessary freedom to develop their images. Then comes time for shooting and explosions. Which I have no problem with that. The problem lies in the very structure of the film, there is something unstable and eaten in the very approach and construction. Maybe the canvas is too wide, maybe Affleck had to focus on parts of the novel and leave others, maybe someone else had to write the script because, above all, "Live By Night" looks like a bad adaptation, suffering (paradoxically) from being an exact adaptation.

The film is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and marks Ben Affleck's fourth comeback to the director's chair. This is certainly his most ambitious film. He himself says that there was no way he could do it if he had not gone "Salvation Victim," "City," and "Argo," because "Live By Night" uses elements from all three films . Unfortunately, it is weaker than them, though not many. Affleck is an extremely adequate director, talented even, with an eye to detail and building a good scene, but he does not really make a really memorable and outstanding film. I would like to have more classic gangster movies. I like the "White Heat" with James Kagney, which has a psychological depth and a strong culmination, but nowadays the system does not allow such risky productions. In fact, for the last 16 years, we can list the films of that time on the fingers of one hand. In addition to the wonderful series, "Boardwalk Empire" produced by Martin Scorsese, we have Sam Mendes' Road to Revenge, a much better film than "Live By Night," but completely different in approach and history, as well as the Gangster Department, , which I find is much weaker than Affleck's. I still find it difficult to appreciate Michael Mann's "Public Enemies", which at one point seems to me to be exceptional, and in another, as an amazing failure. In any case, the genre is not in its strongest period. At the very least, it has been transformed and we can find recognizable tropes in other, more modern stories. What "Live By Night" can offer you is a journey to the past, a respectful attitude to the classics of that time with a very strong contemporary blow. Great sounds, costumes and scenery are the big plus. And the work of Robert Richardson. The installation also features great trekking, thanks to William Goldenberg, who took Oscar a few years ago for Argo. It's amazing how many things work well in certain scenes, and how unconvincing the entire building is. Jess Conchor ("Ave, Caesar!") And his team created a whole city north of Florida. Decors are stunning and create a sense of authenticity and breadth, even in a room full of drawers, documents, and book shelves. Even only such details can justify one viewing. Not to mention that if you love shooting, here you will find perhaps the best quality sound.

"Live By Night" draws inspiration from gangster films from the 30's and 40's, but also drives a muscle injection of anabolic steroids, charged with energy from our time. Beautifully shot, with solid sound, some witty directorial decisions and full of good actors, the film stumbles in its attempt to comprehensively hold the whole book and leave the impression of something secondary and redesigned.

Image source: 1, 2, 3