Mr. Movie: ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ should not be ignored

Here we are in what seems like week one-thousand since theaters closed up. The country is getting itchy to get back to normal and requirements for social distancing are slowly being relaxed. The “slowly” plans in Washington and Oregon, and most of the Northwest and California don’t include theaters or bars at this point in time.

I’m a movie critic, the drummer for a classic rock band that is booked all summer in venues around the Portland area, and my hobby is playing basketball so this is just bad news all around.

In the meantime, and as noted last week, we won’t really be looking at serious movie releases for at least another month. Theaters might be opening up in some states by then. Washington? Oregon? Probably not.

Time will — as they say — tell.

In June we’re going to see releases of movies that will definitely be award-worthy when the year ends and those giving out awards start considering them. That got me thinking of movies last year that I didn’t get a chance to review and that — strangely — didn’t make the award cut.

My favorite — and one of my favorite films of last year — is “Motherless Brooklyn.”

Edward Norton stars and wrote the screenplay based on Jonathan Lethem’s 1999 novel. He always loved the book and thought it would make a great movie. It just took him about 20 years to get the job done.

Norton also directs.

It is his second time in the director’s chair and his first acknowledged screenplay. By “acknowledged” I mean that some say Norton sometimes comes onto the set of a movie with his own version of his character.

As a director he directed the semi-romantic, and semi-good comedy and starred with Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman in “Keeping the Faith.”

“Motherless Brooklyn” is a different story. There is nothing semi about this movie. It’s a very good and a very heavy crime drama set in 1957. Norton plays Lionel Essrog. He’s a detective who tries to find out who killed his beloved boss and why. The boss loved Essrog’s ability to remember detail and his loyalty.

That loyalty drives the detective. He’s also challenged. Part of the struggle to find the killer or killers is that Essrog has Tourette Syndrome. That makes things pretty difficult and at times, Norton’s interpretation of that challenge is kind of funny.

No, let’s make that really funny and say that it helps offset the serious drama swirling around poor Essrog and the mystery.

The film is packed with nasty characters. They include a crime boss, his henchmen, and his frightened brother, crooked politicians, crooked cops and maybe crooked detectives. It’s the whole nine-yards couched in a long, detailed and complicated film packed with the kind of characters that make noir — well — noir.

Some critics say at 2:24 it’s too long. I’m not one of them. The film is the length it needs to be to do a good job of telling the story. That said, Norton did make a serious change in Lethem’s story. His book is set in the present and Norton said moving it to the 1950s would make a better movie.

I agree.

Another plus is Norton’s cast of supporting actors that include Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Belle,” TV’s “The Morning Show,” “Beauty and the Beast”), Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Bobby Cannavale (“The Irishman”), Bruce Willis. Leslie Mann and others.

The real jewel in this one — however — is Norton. His rendition of the Tourette’s challenged detective is brilliantly conceived and executed. In the 1950s no one knew much about the syndrome and he has to explain to the film’s other characters about his handicap and how his brain doesn’t quite work right.

It adds to the difficulty Essrog has in solving the movie’s mystery and his character’s credibility with those he encounters and gives his character character.

What shocked me most about the movie is that Norton’s acting was ignored by all the major awards givers at the end of the year. So was his movie. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences best picture Oscar nomination list can include 10 films. Last year only nine were nominated.

This one should have been the 10th.

The Golden Globes passed and others did as well. I do film review work with Cooper Banks who is a news anchor at a radio station in Portland. He and I saw the movie together and loved it. Neither of us can figure out why Norton was ignored. His acting topped an okay piece of work by Jonathan Pryce in true-life drama, “The Two Popes” and Antonio Banderas who was good, but not great, in “Pain and Glory.”

In our minds his acting was close to as good as that of Joaquin Phoenix who won the Oscar and the Golden Globe, and other awards, for his acting in “Joker.”

Could the reason he was ignored be because Norton is hard to live with on a movie set and wants to control all aspects of what is done with the character he is playing? Some reports say he often writes his own script and insists that what he has written be done instead of that of the scriptwriter. Others claim Norton also insists that he control how his character is edited and is often — and very loudly and publicly — upset with original edits.

Whatever the case, his acting — and this film — should not have been ignored. If you’re a fan of film noir, this is a movie you should not ignore.

“Motherless Brooklyn” can now be found on many networks that feature movies. If you see it, I’d be curious as to what you think of the movie and why you think the movie got ignored.

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In the meantime, I have finally done something I’ve been promising to do for the last couple of years. That is binge-watching “Game of Thrones.” I’m almost through season two. This is — I have to admit — really good TV and as I sit on the cusp of season three, I’m reminded that there are five to go.

It’s hard for me to watch that much television but with very little else to do these days, I have managed to make it this far and am — like many of you — now addicted to the series.

To me, “Game of Thrones” plays out like a medieval soap opera. However, it’s brilliantly written and acted and as far as soap operas go, it’s about the best I’ve ever seen.

▪ Rated R for mature themes and language. It is available on many streaming services.

▪ Rating: 5 out of 5

This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ should not be ignored."