James Gray's icy tale of corruption in New York feels like a movie out of its time. With James Caan, Faye Dunaway and a pre-Requiem For A Dream Ellen Burstyn backing up Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron, it has the operatic grittiness of a film from the `70s not the year 2000. Overlong, but worth investigating.
DVD Extras:
Director's commentary, behind-the-scenes mini documentary, on location footage, interviews, trailer.The mini doc and on-set interviews are the standard revelation-free snippets, while the on location shots are ruined by length - none run to more than half a minute. The commentary is the saving grace. Gray's earnest approach mixes trivia (a scrap between Wahlberg and Phoenix was filmed without stuntmen on a concrete pavement) with film-making insights (three cameras were used as the stars couldn't do the fight more than twice without badly fucking each other up).
