25th Hour

25th Hour (2002) covers the last day of a man with twenty four hours before he goes to prison. Monty Brogan got seven years for dealing. He surrenders in the morning. The whole film spreads across that day: with his father, two old friends, his girlfriend and his dog. The real question is who informed on him. Monty suspects his girlfriend Naturelle and never asks; the suspicion poisons the entire day. The best known scene is in front of a bathroom mirror. Looking at himself, Monty starts cursing every group in New York: every ethnicity, every occupation, every neighbourhood. Then the tirade turns and it becomes clear the real target is himself. David Benioff adapted his own novel. It was published in 2001, before the attacks, and contains no September 11. The film was in preparation when the attacks happened. Rather than ignore it, Lee brought it into the story. The credits open on the columns of light standing where the towers were. In one scene two friends talk in an apartment overlooking Ground Zero while the wreckage is being cleared outside the window, and the camera keeps looking at it. It was the first major studio film to address the attacks directly, opening in December 2002, fifteen months after. In the final section the father tells a story in the car: another life, driving west, a new name. The film shows that story in full and then ends, without saying whether it happened. Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper star. Terence Blanchard wrote the score. It runs 135 minutes. Good for: character drama, New York films, and Spike Lee. Less good for: the pace is slow, the lead is unpleasant, and the film promises no deliverance.