THE DROP
DIRECTOR: Michaël R Roskam
CAST: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts and |John Ortiz
CLASSIFICATION: 16 LV
RUNNING TIME: 106 minutes
RATING: ****
TOM Hardy’s slow burn, subdued and ultimately mesmerising performance is the mainstay of this crime drama, though he is ably supported by James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace and Matthias Schoenaerts.
Author Dennis Lehane adapted his own short story Animal Rescue for this film, and he gives each of the characters enough to work with to create intriguing characters who aren’t what they seem initially.
Director Michaël R Roskam makes of this more a character study than an action exercise, even if the premise lends itself to going heavy on the hitting and light on the talking.
The title refers to a covert scheme of funnelling cash to the local gangsters through Brooklyn bars – on any given day, you never know where the drop will be.
Shot on location in Brooklyn, the story plays out in a working- class area that has seen better days. There is a sense of desperation at work here and that gloom is hard to shake.
Hardy is Bob Saginowski, a bartender who finds himself at the centre of a robbery gone wrong. As he quietly tries to figure out what really happened, his friends and family fall under police scrutiny, as organised crime bosses also take an unhealthy interest in matters.
His employer and cousin, Marv (Gandolfini), lives in his past, constantly bemoaning the fact that he doesn’t still own the bar, which has been taken over through a shell company by Chechen gangsters. Gandolfini does whiny, self-important wannabe gangster well, but it is in the quiet moments like his irritated yet matter-of-fact, affectionate interaction with his sister that understated works better and he pulls it off. He is NOT doing Tony Soprano behind a bar, this is something different.
Characters are dark and twisty and we are not talking the twisted sisters from Grey’s Anatomy. These people are casually violent and unhinged, but not always in the ways we have come to expect from crime films. Yes, guns and severed body parts will be spotted, but not where you think to look.
Bob initially appears to be rather simple, but that’s not to be confused with simple-minded, he just says what he means and doesn’t quite handle metaphors or innuendo too well. He is a study in loneliness, a man who has an exacting moral code, almost overwhelmed by dodgy circumstances. The way he carries himself, you expect him to run away any second – he moves quietly so as not to be noticed, he stands back for people, he shies away from contact.
Bob befriends initially circumspect Nadia (Rapace), bonding over the cutest puppy he rescues from her dustbin. The dog almost lives up to that adage of don’t act alongside cute kids or animals, but Hardy holds his own.
A sense of dread grows as Bob pieces together what happened, while fending off the attention of Nadia’s ex, disturbed, menacing Eric Deeds (Schoenaerts), and cynical, yet curious despite himself Detective Torres (Ortiz).
Ultimately, the payoff (for the audience) comes about because we misread the complexity of the characters, not because of a last- minute plot twist. The best part is, it is not because a character suddenly becomes a superhero or turns out to be a genius, but because characters, and by extension the audience, make false assumptions.
The clue here comes from Nadia when she explains that it isn’t the pitbull puppy that is the problem, it is how the puppy is raised which reflects its owner and ultimately decides whether it will be violent or not.
If you liked Bullhead or Mystic River, you will like this.