The stylish, classic, smoky backdrops amidst a city illuminated by streetlamps, inhabited by mysterious people donning fedoras and ruby red lipstick, film noir is a beloved genre within the world of film boasting numerous classics that are still revered to this day. While it no longer dominates Hollywood as it did in the days of yesteryear, it does seem like every other trip around the sun does provide us with one reminder of how great a mystery left to be unraveled by a shadowy detective plays onscreen. 2019 began with a neo-noir that still stands as one of the year’s best films in Under the Silver Lake, and it ends with a more classic take that pays homage to the timeless films that came before it. Motherless Brooklyn takes us to 1950s New York City where Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) works as a private investigator for an agency headed by his mentor Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). After Minna is killed following a botched meeting with shadowy, unknown figures, Lionel uses his sharp memory to trace Minna’s investigation in an attempt to find his killers. On his journey, Lionel meets Laura Rose (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who seems to be the key to unraveling the mystery but instead takes him down a winding road of corruption in city government and closely-guarded secrets leading to real estate magnate Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin), that end with the detective and developer facing each other head on with the fate of the city’s power structure hanging in the balance.
Motherless Brooklyn is a fantastic ode to film noir complete with all the twists and turns expected from the genre. In the director’s chair, Edward Norton creates an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue that flows superbly and entices audiences to invest themselves in uncovering the mystery alongside the film’s protagonist. The whodunit at the center of the film slowly builds to a crescendo, beginning as simple murder mystery and evolving into a trip through the machinations of power within industry and government with each turn and new development arising naturally and keeping the audience and Lionel guessing. So much of the plot and feel of Motherless Brooklyn feels specifically like a love letter to 1974 classic Chinatown, from the story of Laura Rose and her family down to the alias Lionel utilizes throughout the film which is a direct reference to director Roman Polanski’s opus. Norton manages to pay homage to classic noir tale without feeling derivative and unoriginal. The nods are obvious to fans of classic cinema but not so similar that you feel as if you’re simply watching a modern version of something you’ve seen before. The result is an engaging film that adds to the pantheon of a beloved genre and stirs up pleasant feelings of nostalgia without relying on it solely to carry the film as a whole.
In addition to its expertly crafted noir aspects, the film is injected with social commentary that is topical and relevant to our current experiences. Moses Randolph is strongly influenced by New York developer Robert Moses and his actions that helped turn New York City into an urban landscape at the expense of its black residents are replicated here. The film makes references to some of the real life controversial decisions of Moses, such as the decision to make overpasses one-inch shorter than the standard height of public buses, a decision which many suspected was to prevent poor minorities from having access to nicer public accommodations as the film points out. The systematic displacement of minorities in Motherless Brooklyn is not just a historical retelling, but mirror actual debates happening now surrounding gentrification in major cities across the country. Other topics such as post-war American culture are touched on as the machinations and costs of power serve as the fuel behind the corruption we see onscreen. The exploration of how power works at high levels and the on-the-ground human costs connects a film drenched in a 1950s classic aesthetic to our current zeitgeist, making the film nostalgic yet firmly based in the here and now.
The ensemble cast in Motherless Brooklyn all submit good performances, but the clear standout is Alec Baldwin as the villainous Randolph. In one of the best scenes of the year, Baldwin ferociously defines what power is to Lloyd while they negotiate the fate of the file that could bring Randolph’s entire operation down. Baldwin’s condescending, intense monologue is spellbinding and the most delicious portrayal of villain so far this year. Much like the film itself, there has been zero mention of Baldwin and his performance when talking about the best in film during 2019, but the veteran actor deserves some consideration in the enormously crowded best supporting actor field.
Motherless Brooklyn is the biggest surprise to hit theaters this year. The plot is engrossing and director Edward Norton paces the film well and creates a portrait of 1950s NYC that feels authentic and calls to mind all the classic elements of noir films with special attention and respect paid to one of the all-time great films noir in Chinatown. The film manages to not only capture all that makes the genre great, but also imparts some topical and substantially substantive themes surrounding the utilization of political power, capital, and gentrification which give it an added depth in addition to its entertainment value. Alec Baldwin leads a strong ensemble cast with one of the best performances of the year that should be under consideration for awards, along with Norton’s adapted screenplay. For fans of classic film noir and for those that just love a good mystery, Motherless Brooklyn should be added to your film queue ASAP.
Image: Warner Bros.
