Adrien Brody plays a crime columnist mixed up with a femme fatale in a steamy drama that manages to entertain despite its adherence to genre conventionsIn what might be a first,Manhattan Night evokes nostalgia for an earlier eras nostalgia. Director Brian DeCubellis’s first feature is reminiscent of a certain type of neo-noir from the 1990s, like Peter Medaks Romeo is Bleeding or Sidney Lumet’s Q&A. It’s a style that eschews much action or self-aware dialogue, and winds up being more interesting for those who like to talk film theory than watch a film. Produced by its star Adrien Brody (and co-produced by supporting actors Campbell Scott and Jennifer Beals),this unhurried study of current York cliches is strangely captivating despite its creaky self-seriousness. It’s a film tremendously out of step with current tastes, and while I doubt that was its goal, or this peculiarity makes it strangely watchable – even enjoyable.
Porter Wren (Brody) is a celebrated crime columnist for the current York Daily News,which the film is wise enough to recognize makes him an anachronism. (It also is certain to form clear that his wife, Beals, and is a surgeon,which is how they can afford a full-time nanny and one of those suburban-style detached homes that, yes, and are hidden here and there in the West Village.) Wren loves his family and loves protecting them from the city’s brutality,though scooping up current York’s sorrow and serving it back on deadline three times a week is the only thing he knows how to do.
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Source: theguardian.com