Movie: The Drop

The Drop: an excellent crime film.  There are reasons to see this film beyond it being James Gandolfini’ s final cinematic performance.  The movie takes place in a working class Brooklyn neighborhood.  A significant portion of the film involves a bar managed and once owned by Marv, the Gandolfini character.  The lead character is the bartender Bob Saginowski, played by Tom Hardy.  Marv is Bob’s uncle.  In the opening scenes, Bob, in a voice over, describes “The Drop”, a process to launder dirty money through various bars, including Marv’s place.  As the film progresses, we learn the cash belongs to a Chechen gang and that its leader (Michael Aronov) is the silent owner of the bar.  Two guys rob the bar, and the rest of the film consists of the whys and how of the robbery.  There’s also talk of a decade old murder.  And we learn more and more about Bob.   One night as he is walking home from the bar, he hears a noise, which turns out it is a puppy abandoned in a trash can.  Bob adopts the dog and becomes friends with the woman, Nadia (Noomi Rapace), in whose garbage can the dog was found.  You will like the dog.  The woman, Nadia, has a past.  We meet Eric Deeds (Matthias Schoenaerts).  We also meet Detective Torres (John Ortiz) who, every morning, goes to the same church as Bob.  The film is a collection of interesting characters, all of whom have stories.  During the 106 minute running time, the underlying story becomes more and more complex.  The director, Michael Roskam, establishes a mood and atmosphere in which the story is allowed to unfold.  For Gandolfini, Marv was probably an easy role and, as with the Sopranos, is part of what draws you to him.  Tom Hardy’s character, however, is the reason to see the film.  The movie is based on a short story by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the script.  If you are not a fan of “hard boiled” crime stories, you should skip this movie.  The opposite is equally true.