25th Hour ★★½ 2002 (R) Moody, atmospheric character study follows the last 24 hours of freedom for convicted drug dealer Monty Brogan (Norton) before he begins a seven-year sentence. Brogan says his goodbyes to his father, a retired firefighter who now runs a bar paid for with Monty's drug money; his longtime buddies Frank (Pepper), a Wall Street shark, and Jacob (Hoffman), a high school teacher with low self-esteem and a crush on one of his students (Paquin); and girlfriend Naturelle (Dawson), whom he suspects of turning him in. All feel different levels of guilt over letting Monty become involved in "the life." If Lee had stuck to these stories, it would've worked much better, but instead he lays the spectre of 9/11 over the proceedings, creating jarring scenes that sometimes work, but mostly distract from some impressive performances. 132m/C VHS, DVD. US Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Michael Genet, Tony Siragusa, Levani Outchanechvili, Misha Kuznetsov;
Director:
Spike Lee;
Writer:
David Benioff;
Writer:
Rodrigo Prieto;
Cameo:
Terence Blanchard. Golden Globes '03: Score.
