Stuff
It’s a crying shame/outrage this magnificent movie was denied a cinema release here, especially given the success of Netflix’s The Irishman in its limited theatrical run.
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Motherless Brooklyn
Edward Norton is a lonely private detective with Tourette's Syndrome trying to solve his only friend's murder in this crime drama based on Jonathan Lethem's novel. Norton also writes and directs.
It's 1950s New York, and Lionel Essrog (Norton) is attempting to find whoever killed his mentor and friend. Armed with only a few clues and his obsessive mind, Lionel unravels closely guarded secrets that may hold the fate of the entire city in the balance.
Less2019Rating: M, Mature themes, violence, coarse language, drug use and sexual references144 minsUSA
CrimeDrama
- Director:
- Edward Norton ('Keeping the Faith')
- Writer:
- Edward Norton
- Cast:
- Edward NortonBruce WillisWillem DafoeLeslie MannEthan SupleeAlec BaldwinGugu Mbatha-RawJosh PaisMichael Kenneth WilliamsCherry Jones
Motherless Brooklyn | Reviews
64%219 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
FilmInk
Every now and then a film comes along where the care and craft combine to give it an instantly recognisable solidity and watchability.
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Sydney Morning Herald
Norton and his crew haven’t settled for the tobacco-stained tones that often prevail when movies take a trip into the past. They win you over by stealth with the symmetry of their compositions and the warmth of a palette that owes much to Edward Hopper’s New York paintings.
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Time Out
When brassy Cherry Jones shows up as a Jane Jacobs in all but name, shouting down the builders, you wish Norton would commit to the real-life showdown he'd clearly rather be making.
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Variety
A sprawling, ambitious tale of murder, blackmail and corruption in mid-century New York to rival "Chinatown" in its complexity, if not necessarily that brain-bender's elegance or appeal...
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Vanity Fair
I miss this kind of story - told with jazz and intrigue, coal-black streets and smoky silhouettes - and Norton's filmmaking evokes it tenderly.
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Hollywood Reporter
An overdone epic of socio-political venality with clear designs on being viewed as an East Coast Chinatown.
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Screen Daily
The character may be unusual but the complex conspiracy of shady characters and dodgy dealing is all too familiar, dragging down a film that already has a lengthy running time.
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The Guardian
Whatever its flaws, it is a substantial and distinctive drama, unlike anything around in the cinema right now, although obviously like a lot of the gumshoe movies of yesteryear.
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