Gone Baby Gone | Fast Lane Film

As the summer movie season draws to a close, I look forward to better offerings in the fall. I’m optimistic about the films slated for release in the coming weeks, from Gone Girl to Kill the Messenger. I was disappointed with the summer selection, and it looks like studios are featuring some weightier movies in the next few months. The Drop’s trailer appeared promising, with multi-faceted Tom Hardy (Locke) alongside James Gandolfini (Enough Said) in his final film.

Writer David Lehane’s source material has given us some heavy, emotionally rich films like Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, and the same melancholy, gritty undertones of the working class were present in The Drop. Lehane adapted the screenplay from one of his short stories, and the movie pulsated with moments of electricity, despite an overall quiet tone. Of course, in criminal parlance, a “drop” refers to a place where illegal money is exchanged for a criminal act, or “job.” Enter ordinary man Bog Saginawski (Hardy), a solitary guy whose low-level criminal activities belie a warm heart. He works at a neighborhood bar called Cousin Marv’s, owned by Gandolfini’s character in name only.

Marv’s bar doubles as a drop spot for the local mob, a no-nonsense group of Chechens who ousted him as owner a decade prior. He runs a tight ship, keeping Bob in line and reminding him of whose name is on the door. The movie opens with Bob narrating an overview of the way money changes hands in New York’s underworld, especially at night and especially at places like Marv’s. We watch as Bob discreetly receives mysterious brown envelopes from an assortment of crooks and hustlers; and it’s business as usual until two armed, masked men hold up the bar one night as Marv and Bob are closing.

The film follows the aftermath of the robbery, as Bob and Marv contend with the police and the mob. An interesting subplot emerges when Bob develops a friendship with a neighboring woman named Nadia (Noomi Rapace, Prometheus) after they discover an abused pit bull puppy. The adorable puppy was a recurring use of symbolism throughout the movie, representing the duality of the vicious breed and the innocence of a baby. Bob’s character somewhat mirrored the dog’s, as his simple, peaceful exterior obscured a more brutal survival instinct.

I was drawn in by the performances, and I’m beginning to think Hardy is incapable of a bad showing. His character does a 180, but the shift felt authentic rather than disingenuous. He had a fraternal chemistry with Gandolfini and plaintive tenderness with Rapace as they were threatened by a menacing ex-lover from her past.The film was suspenseful and effectively dramatic throughout, although it lagged here and there. Patient viewers will be rewarded in the final act, where the plot twists unexpectedly. The trailer is a bit misleading, so you should be forewarned that this is a definitely an “indie” movie with a subdued tone. It won’t make much of a splash at the box office, but The Drop is worth checking out. Grade: B

Some things just lend themselves to cinematic visualization. You’re probably familiar with the expression “stranger than fiction,” a phrase describing the fantastic things that occur in real life, but are so unbelievable they seem like the stuff of fantasy. We see so many amazing things in movies, most of which is fiction. How cool is it when the unbelievable shit you see in a movie actually really happened? Ben Affleck (most recently of The Town) brilliantly depicted the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 in Argo, demonstrating that he could be the next Clint Eastwood one day – a popular actor whose directorial efforts rival his thespian pursuits.

In 1979, the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran was taken over by protestors who were outraged that the United States had granted amnesty to its recently ousted Shah. In an effort to minimize the security threat of the takeover, the diplomats began destroying classified material before it could be seized, including passport plates and personnel files. During the siege, six diplomats escaped, taking refuge at the nearby Canadian Embassy. Back at the American Embassy the dissidents would eventually begin making the hostages painstakingly reassemble the shredded documents, which included personnel files identifying the escaped diplomats. There were also neighborhood searches of private residences to ensure that no locals were harboring anyone. Obviously, any American separate and apart from the Embassy would be in grave danger, at risk for public execution as an example to the West. The escaped diplomats included four men and two women, with two married couples in that number. Getting the six out of Iran alive would prove a most daunting task, setting the stage for a nail-biting chain of events.

Back on American soil, the CIA hatches a plan to extract the diplomats, and this is where things really get fun and interesting. Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, an operative whose specialty lies in such creative recovery missions. The crisis presented a unique conundrum for the Agency, as any ruse to rescue the diplomats must be executed perfectly. Mendez gets the idea to pose as a Canadian film crew, complete with a fictional script and Hollywood producers. He plans to prep each diplomat with a cover story that they will have to memorize. As explained by Mendez’ superior, the scheme is “the best bad idea” they could come up with. Argo was the name of the movie, a sci-fi flick set against a desert landscape. The phony film crew is supposedly in Iran scouting potential film locations. Authenticity was important, so the idea was based on a real script that had been submitted to a studio. There was even a fake cast lined up! Throughout the movie I was riveted, marveling the whole time that this actually happened. Stranger than fiction, indeed.

Quite simply, Argo is a fantastic movie. It kept pace throughout, beginning with a brief history lesson to let the audience know the circumstances giving rise to the conflict. This could have been boring, but it was fascinating and insightful. The scenes in Iran were wrought with tension, and I was on the edge of my seat as if I didn’t know how the story ends. The tense atmosphere was balanced perfectly by the funny scenes involving the Agency’s formulation of the rescue mission. Shout out to the veteran Alan Arkin (recently of The Change-Up) in his amusing turn as the film’s producer, Lester Siegel. I’m also very impressed by Ben Affleck, who wonderfully conveyed the complexity of a character with the weight of the world on his shoulders. It was Mendez who had to enter Iran and physically escort the diplomats out of the country, relying on his wits and preparation to see him through. Affleck is three for three in the director’s chair, by my count. Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo prove that this burgeoning new facet of his career has yielded great results thus far. I’d go as far as to say Argo was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year – a must-see for sure. Grade: A.