Motherless Brooklyn (Movie Review)


8/10

 Lionel Easton doesn’t have many friends. The Tourette’s Syndrome he is suffering from, which compels him to say out loud all the nasties that are on his mind, has made sure of that. When his only friend, mentor and the director of a detective agency is brutally murdered, Lionel will leave no stone unturned in finding the culprit, even if it means going head to head with the most powerful men in NYC.

Passion project by Edward Norton finally got its release and it’s not all bad news. New York of the 1950’s is a fascinating place and if Edward Norton did anything right with MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN it’s transporting us to the time and the place. 

Rather designed for streaming services due to its lengthy run, the movie has been a box office failure, but it doesn’t mean it’s not great. Norton gives his all to the performance, we can just see here what an underrated actor he is. 

The film’s original score by Daniel Pemberton has received a Golden Globes nomination, but it’s the other score, the jazzy one with compositions from the likes of Tom York that is taking MELBOURNE by storm (check out the LP at Readings). Constantly balancing on the verge of a high drama and a noir movie this is an overly long, but ultimately satisfying affair, when whodunit is less important than “why”. It’s a tad predictable but rings true, mostly because of the characters being so warm and alive. At the end you feel like you have persevered with a particularly long book and suddenly realise it is a great one. Probably that was the way Norton felt when he finished the original novel the movie is based on.

All in all MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN is an engaging crime drama that is worth every minute of your time. 

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