Motherless Brooklyn movie review

MOVIE TITLE:    Motherless Brooklyn

RATING:     R

LENGTH:    2 hours, 24 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE:  A-

IN A NUTSHELL:

This crime drama set in the 1950’s offers mystery, excellent performances, and New York City, the perfect formula for Oscar bait, right? Edward Norton directed, wrote, and starred in the film as a loyal gumshoe with Tourette Syndrome based on Jonathan Lethem’s 1999 novel also named Motherless Brooklyn.

Not everyone will have the patience to sit through this film, but you’ll be rewarded with outstanding performances and a chance to watch the many gifts of Edward Norton.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

• Children and some adults will be completely bored out of their minds.  This is not a movie for children anyway.
• Lots of profanity, inappropriate slurs, and a million F-bombs.  (I counted them.)
• Some violence.
• Guns
• Some men get shot and die.  You see some blood.
• A man falls off a fire escape and dies.

THEMES:

• Greed
• Corruption
• Power
• The role of government
• Loyalty, friendship
• Persistence, tenacity
• Family relationships
• “If someone isn’t seen for what they truly are, it’s a very dangerous thing.” –  Paul   (Willem Dafoe)
• The conversations in the last 15 minutes of the film were loaded with golden nuggets of wisdom.

THINGS I LIKED:

• First of all, I love the title of the movie.  It’s intriguing.  You have to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes before you learn what it means.  Actually, there are two meanings: one specific that deals with Lionel and one broader that refers to the condition of New York City.
• The extremely talented cast of Motherless Brooklyn includes Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, Ethan Suplee, Michael Kenneth Williams, and the lovely Leslie Mann.  I’ve never seen her perform in such a dramatic role before!  Rumor has it that the main stars in the movie all worked for free to support Edward Norton.  Awww.
• It really feels like a classic Noir film with all of the traditional characters, reflective pauses, obligatory jazz music, set pieces, and mystery, although it has a modern twist because it’s in color.  The color palette, by the way, is perfect.
• The ominous music in the beginning sets the tone perfectly.
• Excellent cinematography by Dick Pope.
• As to how accurate Edward Norton’s portrayal of Tourette Syndrome is, he spent a lot of time consulting with the Tourette’s Association of America to prepare for his role.  They have approved his performance, in case you’re wondering.  He does a great job describing what it feels like in his head and body.  Apparently, you can have muscular twitches or verbal “twitches”, and his character has both, plus a dose of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
• A funny scene that was also shown in the movie’s trailer is when Lionel (Edward Norton) tries to flirt with a girl in a bar and light her cigarette, but his Tourette Syndrome gets in the way of his bravado and he keeps blowing out the match.  It was interesting and even entertaining at times to see how various people reacted to Lionel’s Tourette Syndrome.  For example, one time he lifted his arm to cover his mouth when he was yelling something random and a lady said, “Bless you!” because she thought he was sneezing.
• The ending wraps up all of the complicated questions.  It takes a LONG time to get there, but there is some satisfying resolution.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

• The movie is very long and tiring.  I was exhausted from all the F-bombs within the first 10 minutes.  It feels extra long because of the slow, meandering pace as well.
• You often don’t know what’s going on and, sadly, some people just won’t care anymore. The story is a bit complicated.
• Tragedy struck during the filming of this movie.  A firefighter was killed on the set, as well as several other people injured, when they were filming a night club scene for Motherless Brooklyn in a building that caught fire in Harlem.  How awful.

FUNNY LINES Lionel blurts out because of this Tourette Syndrome:

• “Kiss her face all night long, Bailey!”
• “French kissing cats!”
• “Keep it together Freak Show!”
• “Licks and Ticks!”
• “Meow to Tom cat!”
• “Ace-hole!”
• “Name it, claim it, shame it!”
• There were MANY others, but most of them had profanity in them.

INTERESTING LINES:

• “Oh, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.” – At the very beginning of the movie, the screen posts this quote in Shakespeare’s “Measure For Measure”.

• “Frank said, ‘Anyone teaching God’s love while they hit you with a stick should be ignored on every subject.’ ” – Lionel  (Edward Norton)
• Willem Dafoe’s character quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.”
• “With new language comes new ideas.” – Trumpet Man  (Michael Kenneth Williams)
• “To serve people, you have to love people.”  –   Paul   (Willem Dafoe)
• “There’s no upside lying to a woman smarter than you.” – Lionel

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@TrinaBoice