We Own the Night.

"The film centers on two brothers - one (Joaquin Phoenix) a druggie and the manager of a shady nightclub, the other (Mark Wahlberg) a cop with a broomstick up his butt," writes David Edelstein in New York. "Don't stop me if you've heard this one because you have. The larger question is, If [James] Gray and his (great) actors see destiny where I see cliché, will the strength of their belief make a difference to the finished product - give it a core of authenticity that lifts it out of the B-movie gutter? The answer is a guarded but affectionate yes. We Own the Night plays like gangbusters."

Updated through 10/15.

"Helpless with comedy, heavily reliant on coincidence, and out of step with all current cinematic vogue - the film received a divisive Cannes reception - We Own the Night finally resonates as a beautiful, dolorous nocturne," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. "The closest thing Gray's done to a commercial actioner, the film also applies his genius for tone (aided by superlative sound work) to set pieces that throb with trauma: a tinnitus-soundtracked shoot-out and a rain-slick car chase set to the tempo of windshield wipers."

"The family and relationship dynamics, with Robert Duvall as the brothers' deputy police chief father and Eva Mendes as Bobby's Puerto Rican girlfriend, are largely by the numbers, but the A-list cast, led by Phoenix as the black sheep, keep things humming until Gray's direction brings We Own the Night to the promised land of tough-guy poetry," writes Michael Joshua Rowin in the L Magazine.

Edward Douglas talks with Gray for Coming Soon. Via the SXSW News Reel.

Online listening tip. Matt Singer and Alison Willmore's latest podcast for IFC News: "An Appreciation of Mark Wahlberg."

Update, 10/11: "Is it really possible, as Gray suggests in our conversation, for a film to succeed on two apparently contradictory levels at once, as a 'popcorn, pulpy' shoot-'em-up as well as a story that is morally ambiguous and even subversive?" asks Andrew O'Hehir in Salon. The talk's also available as a podcast.

Updates, 10/12: "In his previous films, Little Odessa (another grim story involving the Russian mob) and The Yards (an unjustly neglected tale of political corruption), Mr Gray evoked the urban crime dramas of earlier eras without being showy or self-conscious about it," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "And there is certainly nothing fancy or gimmicky about this movie. But there is nothing especially interesting or new, either."

"We Own the Night seems less original than the first two, maybe because of [The Departed], maybe because Russian gangsters have become the villains du jour (see them portrayed more urgently in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises)," writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Still, the film is made with confidence and energy and is well acted by the principals."

For Dan Callahan, writing at Slant, this one "confirms James Gray's position as a major American film director.... We Own the Night is ambitious, gritty, and finally elating, and it represents a large leap forward for Gray, who hopefully won't have to wait quite so long between projects as he develops his delicate poetic vision further."

"We Own the Night is a movie instinctively convinced of its own tragic dimensions, a would-be saga of familial division and reconciliation, the futility of revenge and the bitter dregs of dishonest living: news for the clueless, a prodigal son redux," writes Vadim Rizov at the Reeler. "Brisk but boring."

"It's difficult to fault, but also hard to remember after viewing, which speaks either to Gray's conservative take on the genre, or his failure to bring anything new to the table," writes Scott Tobias at the AV Club. "Whatever the case, We Own the Night plays like a masterpiece because it skillfully appropriates actual masterpieces, not because it earns the label on its own merits."

"It's a bare-knuckled crime drama set in 1988 that stylistically could have been made that year and emphasizes Gray's strengths as a director while drawing attention to his limitations as a writer," writes Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times.

"The problem is not that the movie's point of view is too subtle or complex, but rather that it becomes indistinct and contradictory," argues the San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle.

Updates, 10/15: "On the evidence of [Gray's] three films, you would never guess him to be under forty; he has none of that Tarantino-like urge to be cock of the walk—to preen one's feathers and crow over the comedy of strong emotions," writes Anthony Lane in the New Yorker. "Rather, the Gray approach recalls the sombre, mirthless style of Alan J Pakula or Sidney Lumet."

Bryant Frazer talks with Gray.

Posted by dwhudson at October 10, 2007 7:25 AM