Susan Granger’s review of “c” (Touchstone/Disney)
Set in post-9/11 New York, Spike Lee’s newest film revolves around convicted drug-dealer Marty Brogan’s (Edward Norton) last day of freedom before he goes upstate to prison for seven years. Marty’s not a bad guy; he’s just made some wrong choices, and now he’s forced to examine them, along with his relationship with his two childhood buddies: Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper), a hard-edged Wall Street bond trader, and Jacob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a nerdy, underpaid high-school English teacher whom Frank calls “a whining malcontent.” Filled with self-recrimination, his widower father (Brian Cox), a retired firefighter who tends bar on Staten Island, wants him to escape with a new identity to a small town somewhere, fantasizing what would happen if he did. The wild card is his sexy Puerto Rican girlfriend, Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), who may have been the one who tipped off the DEA – at least according to the narcs and hulking Kostya Novotny (Tony Siragusa), Marty’s bodyguard. But who actually did? Edward Norton convincingly embodies the fear within conflicted Marty, and now-grown Anna Paquin (“The Piano”) scores as Jacob’s manipulative, sexually aggressive but underage student. Adapted by David Benioff from his novel, the not-very-plausible, character-driven story has sharp dialogue, flashbacks that explore the past, and cynical monologues filled with profanity. In one, Marty rages in exasperation against the rich, the poor, blacks, gays, cops and Osama bin Laden. And, as always, Terence Blanchard’s signature music underscores Spike Lee’s intentions. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “25th Hour” is a gritty, depressing yet powerful 8, particularly when you’re helplessly staring at the ruins of the World Trade Center at ground zero.
