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>> 25th HOUR

Starring: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Cox, and more...
Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Drama




agreeing with my friend's comment on this movie.. "it's spike lee's best without being a racist". as you all know, spike lee is one of the good directors out there. he has his own style of directing and his direction always produced such a strong and powerful movie. and mostly those movies revolves around racism. but this movie is just as powerful without being a racist.

why did this movie NOT get an oscar? i think it should. plainly and clearly one of the best movies of 2002. extremely good cast, excellent acting and brilliant directing. the movie pulls you into the story of monty (ed norton) and his last 24 hours before he has to take a 7-year prison term for dealing drugs, and for which there are good chances which he will not survive in prison.. a pretty white boy like him who never been in one. if this was a book it would be a page turner. several story lines are perfectly woven together.

you get attached to the characters like they are your best friends and you will suffer with them. spike lee did an outstanding job in giving each of the main characters enough time so that they can develop into real people, not into the flat clichees you usually see on the screen.

using new york and its adjustment to its post 9/11 psyche as a subtext, the film was powerfully show the life and the streets of new york after the tragedy, revolves around monty and his friends. the story is just about how monty says goodbye to his closest friends and family. along the way he's trying to figure out what to do with his life and looked back to blame everyone. there was this powerful scene that i called the "fuck you" scene, when he criticized every racial in new york city, from the jews to koreans, from the irish to pakistanis, from blacks to hispanics. it's very spike lee!! another powerful scene was when monty was on the way to the prison, driven by his dad, and the whole narration if he takes another way and run from doing his time.

i love the movie enough, but not too much. i love the directing style, how spike lee portrays new york. there is even a scene showing whatever's left of where world trade center used to stand. but otherwise, the story was just flat. no plotting twists and although the powerful narration and the 9/11 aftermath, the story was just lost for a moment there.

but i do admit.. i really really like this movie. highly recommended.

quote:
... slavery ended 137 years ago, get the fucking move on..

coming from spike lee's movie, that quote was a suprise. i did.


>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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