This bodes well for the the directorial future of John Slattery but itâ?s just a damn shame that we wonâ?t see much more from Hoffman.
Itâ?s certainly tonally uneven and you get the sense that Slattery is a little out of his depth in balancing it all but he does manage to deliver many excellent scenes, has a fantastic eye for detail and draws out superb performances from his entire cast. Once you accept that this, though, the black comedic moments become better timed. Considering that the film starts so seriously, a sudden burst of humour comes as a real surprise and it takes a while to adjust. However, despite the stark nature, before you know it the film shifts from being a character drama to a very black comedy and itâ?s here that Slatteryâ?s inexperience in calling the shots comes to the fore. The subject matter is certainly grim and cinematographer Lance Acord paints a suitably bleak picture. There are few redeeming characters in this tiny corner of the world but debutant director John Slattery (Roger Sterling from TVâ?s Mad Men) gives us an inside, almost fly-on-the-wall, look at how these blue collar crooks operate. Itâ?s inhabitants are seemingly stuck in their turgid, everyday lives where in order to make ends meet, they are forced into one scam or another. Mickey tries his best to investigate with the help of his friend Bird (John Turturro) but things go from bad to worse when Mickey gambles the funeral money and is left with a body he canâ?t bury and a debt he canâ?t pay as a local columnist (Richard Jenkins) begins to expose the events.Ī sombre, lowbrow mood piece thatâ?s very much character driven and has an authentic feel for itâ?s titular working class, Philadelphia neighbourhood, Godâ?s Pocket. If truth be told, itâ?s not a role that requires him to do very much and the film itself continually switches tones but like many other movies featuring this fantastic actor, it benefits from his commitment and his everyman naturalism.Īfter a mysterious construction â?accidentâ?, where his step-son Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) is killed, street hustler Mickey Scarpato (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is urged by the boys mother (Christina Hendricks) to find out what actually happened and to give the boy a decent burial.
For this alone, itâ?s worth reminding yourself what a great talent this man was and how the medium of film will forever miss his astonishing onscreen presence.
Â?I donâ?t know why writing down what everybody knows, is any better than knowing it in the first placeâ?Īlong with A Most Wanted Man, Godâ?s Pocket was sadly one of only two remaining lead performances from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman â? after his untimely death in 2014 to a heroine overdose.
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