FEST2003

25th Hour
Spike Lee, director  

 Review by Rada Djurica   

Monty Brogan is a harmless drug dealer who has 24 hours of freedom before doing seven years in prison. Montgomery Brogan (Edward Norton) is going away for a long time and may never come back. He has twenty-four hours to enjoy his last moments of freedom and chooses to spend it with the people he loves.

Nervous, confused and terrified, Monty turns to his friend, Frank, for support. Frank is a cocky stockbroker who resents Monty's lifestyle. He also turns to Jacob, a high school teacher, and to his heartbroken father, who blames himself for Monty's downfall. Of course, there's Monty's girlfriend, as well, who might or might not be responsible for Monty's going down.

Monty's last day outside of prison is about to begin. He is ignoring all the facts but finding out that everyone reminds him where he's going the next day. Friends are one of the most important things you can have in life. And not just any friends -- not the fair-weather ones, or the type you hang out with only at parties. No, the real kind, the ones that drive you to the airport at four o'clock in the morning, and listen to you when you need to cry. But there are times when even your most faithful friends can't help you and you are left on your own.

Spike Lee's latest " 25th Hour" is about many things, but mostly it's about friendship. The film sounds like a really dull, sappy movie about this dead-end guy doing some heart and soul searching, with an unconvincing end. Monty does talk about a lot of life-changing issues. But the movie is essentially about friendship, choices and reality. The film has enormous amounts of humour, unavoidable chemistry so persuasive that you want to jump into the movie to save the characters from their fates. Is Spike Lee venting some secret message against his beloved city? In contrast, there are slight homage and referrals to 9/11 and the attacks on the World Trade Center, and there is at least one digression that has nothing to do with the plot, whose only existence seems to be to pay respect to the attack.

There's one scene that stands apart from the others, one in which Monty stands in front of a bathroom mirror in his father's bar and suddenly and surreally goes on about the various people that live in New York, like stumbling into a screening of "American History X." There are several outstanding scenes: one being the introduction, in which Monty and his bodyguard buddy, Kostya, find a dog on the side of the road and try to rescue it, and another when the three friends and two women end up at a dance club, during which the movie builds up to its final approaching workout.

The chemistry between the actors is easy and natural; James and Monty have a sweet, poignant rapport as father and son, particularly in the last scene of the film. Although every single performance in this film is strong, there are things that steal you away from the story, with spit-out lines like, "What are you, R. Kelly?" But the film unravels the position of a distraught friend with complexity and empathy.