Get The Drop
CUSTOMER REVIEW
Directed by Michaël R. Roskam (Bullhead) from a screenplay by Dennis Lahane (Mystic River) adapted from his short story "Animal Rescue", The Drop is one of those films that sneak up on you, starting out seemingly mundane but gradually building up the tension and drawing you so intimately into the lives of these characters and the situation they find themselves in to the point that you can't look away. This is one of the best crime dramas I've seen in years and certainly the best I've seen in 2014.
Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy in an Oscar-worthy performance) is a quiet kind of guy, working as bartender at a neighborhood bar in Brooklyn called Cousin Marv's. The bar is run by the titular Marv (James Gandolfini in his final role), who actually is Bob's cousin, but while the bar bears his name and he runs the place, he apparently no longer owns it, the reasons for which get revealed later. In addition to its usual business, the bar also serves as a "drop bar" for the local mob - in this case a Chechen group - one of many they use as collection points for money from their various operations, with a different bar being used each week to make it hard for anyone else to know where the money is going to be.
It's just after Christmas at Cousin Marv's, and Marv, we quickly see, is a man of many frustrations and resentments, from not liking the way his life has turned out to not liking the way the crowd at the bar are talking about a likeable local kid named Richie Wheelen who disappeared ten years ago that Christmas, believed to have been murdered. He also doesn't like the way that Bob lets an old lady run up a tab that never gets paid while sitting on Marv's favorite stool, or that it's two days after Christmas and the bar still has holiday decorations up, which he irritably orders Bob to take down. Bob, on the other hand, just quietly takes in everything around him, doing his job without reacting no matter what goes on. On his way home one night, Bob hears a badly beaten pit bull puppy whimpering from inside a garbage can. Hearing the noise when Bob rescues the puppy, Nadia (Noomi Rapace), who lives in the house where the garbage can is, comes out and after some initial reluctance helps Bob patch up the dog. Bob isn't sure about what to do with the puppy, but Nadia tells him that because it's a pit bull, it'll be put down at the shelter if its owner doesn't come. After persuading Nadia to keep the dog overnight, Bob agrees to come back and take the dog home with him. All while someone in the shadows is watching them from across the street. Bob then continues on his way home, stopping at the Catholic church which is part of his nightly routine. Among the handful of people in the church is a fellow parishioner, Detective Torres (John Ortiz), with whom he has a wary but nodding acquaintance. The next day, Bob picks up the dog and names him Rocco, after a statue of Saint Rocco he saw in the church depicting the saint with a dog. And the next night, Cousin Marv's is robbed, and you immediately wonder - who would be crazy enough to rob a known Chechen mob bar?
As you can tell from the above description, The Drop is a movie of small details - things like a stopped watch, an umbrella, a glance in a basement - and the reason for this is that the script is so tightly written that every detail matters. Absolutely nothing is wasted or on the screen for no reason. It takes time to weave this intricate a level of reality and between Roskam's sure-handed direction and Lahane's seamless screenplay, The Drop is a work of true film craftsmanship. It is also a film of revelations, which is why I've been careful to avoid any spoilers in this review.
The music by Marco Beltrami (The Hurt Locker) and Raf Keunen (Death of a Shadow) is suitably atmospheric and non-intrusive, adding to the feel - and the slowly rising tension - without distracting from what's going on on the screen.
The cast is absolutely superb. James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) turns in a fine final performance as Marv, a man driven by frustration and disappointment in middle age at having slipped down the underworld ladder after barely having made it to the first rung. Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) does a nuanced turn as Nadia, a woman who wants something better but is unable to escape some bad choices of her past. Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone) is suitably edgy as Eric Deeds, Nadia's sadistic and more than a little unbalanced ex-boyfriend who thinks he's the biggest shark in the tank. Michael Aronov (The Americans) as Chovka, the head of the Chechen mob, is a much more convincing shark, smooth but with dark piercing eyes that make raising his voice completely unnecessary. But it's Tom Hardy (Warrior, Bronson) who truly stands out in what I feel is an Oscar-worthy performance as Bob - Bob who sees everything around him but whose blandly cautious expression reveals nothing about what he's thinking. Whose seeming hesitancy and slow-speaking mask what is in fact calm deliberation. Who can be openly sentimental about a dog but who carries things buried deep inside him, hidden so far below the still surface of his face that, as John Ortiz's Detective Torres at one point observes, "Nobody sees you coming, do they, Bob?"
Highly, highly recommended.