Forever the Irish Critic’s top film, ‘25th Hour’ is set in New York City- in fact it could be said that it is in and of New York City, the backdrop of its post 9/11 angst acting almost as an additional character as opposed to merely a setting. The plot surrounds ex- drug dealer Montgomery Brogan (played by an ever fantastic Edward Norton), charting his last twenty-four hours of freedom before being sent to prison for seven years.


The film is primarily striking in its lack of plot or resolution- nothing ever really happens at all- yet the film relentlessly holds our attention and fascination as a story about choice. Monty’s dilemma, as to whether to face his sentence or make a run for it, and his earlier decision to make easy money despite the obvious risk, are only a couple of said choices. In the background hangs a more globally relevant choice- the choice facing the United States post 9/11.

The ever present two towers looming in the film’s nightscape backdrop and the un-scripted 9/11 element magnified by visually stylistic and haunting images of ground zero, have led some critics to talk about the film purely in a political sense. While the subtext of the surface story line is made pretty blatant by Lee, I would argue that the message never goes so far as to overpower the deeply character based narrative which features Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Monty’s oldest and most faithful friends.

A subplot surrounding Hoffman as Jacob Elinsky, a softly spoken, deeply frustrated English teacher lusting after his seventeen year old student (played by Anna Paquin) is treated by some critics as over indulgent and a distraction from the main narrative. I find it strangely alluring and while it does distract ever so slightly from the tense nature of Monty’s narrative, I would never wish it gone. From it stems the most honest performance of the film from Hoffman, whose penchant for subtlety is truly mesmerising, and undoubtedly some of Spike Lee’s best cinematic work. A tracking shot following Hoffman down the stairs after a long anticipated kiss in the toilets with his student, captures his emotional state perfectly and the warped musicality of ‘Bra’ by Cymande represents his altered state of mind. Lee becomes the master of montage in ‘25th Hour’, one of the final scenes of the film silencing the sound of the guys making Monty ‘ugly’ to heighten the emotion and the repetition of Monty’s girlfriend (Rosario Dawson) greeting him at the door further heightening the already extremely tense scene.

While the very last scene of the film which charts the possibilities of Monty’s escape – taken directly from the David Benioff novel on which the film was based- lets down the aesthetic and emotional reality of the film a bit, this is still a really honest and deeply moving piece. Ed Norton gives a finely tuned and subtle performance of Monty, playing him as a man who bitterly regrets his greed (some critics have implied that he represents America as a nation), and let’s face it- any film with Hoffman couldn’t be bad. A film that received a mix reception but worth your attention beyond a doubt.