Lawless: Cannes Film Review

The Bottom Line

A gritty and suspenseful bootlegger tale based on real-life Prohibition figures that sees “The Proposition” team of director John Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave working in a more mainstream vein to satisfying effect.

Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain and Gary Oldman inhabit Prohibition-era Virginia in John Hillcoat's outlaw drama. 

The main action begins in 1931. The now-grown Bondurant brothers run a thriving bootlegging operation in the mountains, one of many outfits supplying quality hooch to the county -- whites, blacks, civilians and lawmen alike. But up north in gangster-land, a crime wave is sweeping the nation, its tentacles inevitably reaching Virginia.

Wanting a slice of the moonshine profits, the crooked commonwealth attorney dispatches Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Pearce), a vicious, perfumed snake who makes no effort to hide his disdain for these hicks. But Forrest makes it clear the Bondurants won’t lie down for anybody, delivering his message with a persuasive combination of knuckleduster and contempt. 

That sets up him and Rakes as instant nemeses. Forrest also resists overtures from other local bootleggers to comply with the new “law,” insisting on staying solo. That stance combined with Cricket’s high-grade brew helps the brothers prosper.

Running parallel to the encroaching friction with Rakes is the more prosaic strand of Jack’s efforts to earn his big brothers’ respect and become a legitimate player in their operation. His opportunity comes while Forrest is laid up with a fresh Frankenstein scar across his throat from where Rakes’ goons sliced him open.

 Jack gets a lucky break in a near-fatal encounter with Floyd Banner’s men, among them a nasty stooge played by Noah Taylor. Jack’s cut of the deal allows him to purchase a snazzy auto and sharp threads to help him court the pious and pretty Bertha. Meanwhile, lovely Maggie works the bar at the boys’ Blackwater Station, as she and Forrest shoot each other smoldering glances.
 
Aided by fluid work from editor Dylan Tichenor, Hillcoat punches the action along at an unhurried yet steady pace, expertly sustaining tension and a mood of impending menace. The inevitable showdown, after Jack’s carelessness leads Rakes to their secret distillery location, is a little too protracted, and the coda 10 years on lingers unduly. But the film maintains its suspense and compelling character engagement throughout.

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Without exactly glorifying their outlaw heroes, Hillcoat and Cave definitely keep us in their corner, showing even their most violent actions to be driven by self-protection or payback, never merely by malice. The most memorable of them is somber Forrest, whose dialogue is delivered from somewhere way back in Hardy’s throat, often as barely more than an inarticulate rumble. But from in amongst those animal growls spout occasional pearls of outlaw wisdom, such as “It is not the violence that sets a man apart, it’s the distance he is prepared to go.”

Benoit Delhomme’s widescreen visuals have a handsome epic sweep. The earthy sepia tones and shadowy interiors are shuffled with crisp skies and green forestland covered with vines and tangled willows. The evocative feel for time and place is furthered by Chris Kennedy’s rustic period production design and Margot Wilson’s sharp costumes.

As in The Proposition, Cave’s contribution extends to an indispensable score, co-written with Warren Ellis. (The team also provided music for Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a film that some will no doubt say the less nuanced Lawless aspires to be.) Their score here mixes rootsy bluegrass, gospel, country and contemporary songs reinterpreted by Emmylou Harris and Ralph Stanley, among others.

If Lawless doesn’t achieve the mythic dimensions of the truly great outlaw and gangster movies, it is a highly entertaining tale set in a vivid milieu, told with style and populated by a terrific ensemble. For those of us who are suckers for blood-soaked American crime sagas from that era, those merits will be plenty.

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Venue: Cannes Film Festival (In Competition; Weinstein Co.)
Production companies: Blumhansonallen Films, Metropolitan Filmexport, Benaroya Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Annapurna Pictures
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Dane DeHaan, Noah Taylor, Chris McGarry, Tim Tolin, Lew Temple, Marcus Hester, Bill Camp
Director: John Hillcoat
Screenwriter: Nick Cave, based on the book “The Wettest County in the World,” by Matt Bondurant
Producers: Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Megan Ellison, Michael Benaroya
Executive producers: Dany Wolf, Rachel Shane, Jason Blum, Scott Hanson, Cassian Elwes, Laura Rister, Robert Ogden Barnum, Ted Schipper, Randy Manis, Ben Sachs
Director of photography: Benoit Delhomme
Production designer: Chris Kennedy
Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Costume designer: Margot Wilson
Editor: Dylan Tichenor
Sales: FilmNation
7.2/10, 116 minutes

Article Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/lawless/review/326812