Part of Noir-November

“You wouldn’t do that.” “You don’t know what I’d do—you have no idea—to live.”

The word “grift” originated in the early twentieth century as an amalgam of “graft” and “drift,” a way to describe those itinerant conmen who followed the era's traveling circuses and sideshows swindling folks out of a buck or two. It’s a perfect word, really—descriptive and textured, with hints of both hard work and dishonesty, a combination of attraction and repulsion that any con artist brings with him. A common thief steals out of desperation or greed or ill will, but a grifter...well, a grifter doesn’t want to take your money so much as convince you to give it to her. She aims to…

All the ingredients are there. So how come the stew just... tastes different. 

A fairly revelatory viewing — and only in part thanks to the movie itself. Not least, how it forced me to reflect on what it is about the classic Film Noir archetype and why it’s spirit only lives on in dribs and drabs when fused with more modern storytelling sensibilities — Aside from the obvious visual earmarks and more vintage stylisms. It’s a funny one, something of an odd duck in that I’ve always considered the Noir to maintain a relatively contemporary feel in it’s stark penchant for mood as a means to setting tone and maybe more plainly, the harsh, acidic streak of cynicism that runs…

Stephen Frears' "The Grifters" is a competent con-person drama that blends touches of light, dark, crime, and family politics. It is an engaging piece of work that is at its best when Frears focuses on his characters' criminal streaks but becomes slightly sodden when their interactions with one another take center stage.

At times, "The Grifters" is a jazzy crime drama where criminal machinations and the long and short grifts of its characters are capably entertaining. When the film's narrative sensibilities turn to the drama linking its three main characters, the whole affair seems to tire. Its twisty plot, however, still offers enough to compel.

The production has a limited scope, but Frears puts together something that feels more expansive.…

“You’re working some angle and don’t tell me you’re not, because I wrote the book.” – Lilly Dillon

Explored is the seedy world of the con artist game, film noir style. The Grifters informs us that there are two different kinds: the short con and the long con. Roy Dillon (John Cusack, marvelously subtle) is a maestro of the short con. Dice games. Pool games. Typically, he walks into a bar to ask for a beer, flashes a $20, slides it under his wrist, slides the bartender a $10 bill. In due time he gets caught by the wrong bartender, and takes such a wallop he is forced to the hospital. It is there that his mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston)…

I've been a fan of Stephen Frears' work for many years now. From My Beautiful Laundrette to Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen to High Fidelity, he's managed to engage his audience for over thirty years with a series of high quality films across a whole spectrum of genres. The Grifters from back in 1990 saw him tackle a crime neo-noir, one with more shocking twists than Kevin Spacey's dating history. I'd seen this six years ago, but couldn't remember much about it apart from a lot of nudity from Annette Bening. Featuring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and the aforementioned Bening, this has cons and grifts, shocks and surprises, as what looks like a straightforward story takes a very surreal and unexpected…

In the climatic scene, the camera bounces back and forth between Lily and Roy. We can tell the scene needs to be tense: the music is saying it, the dialogue is saying, the body language is saying it. But the tension feels forced. There's an ingredient missing: interaction. Neither Lily nor Roy share the screen for most of the exchange. It's a brief interplay, but it stands out in a film that wants to make us feel desperation, anger, and deception. When they finally share the screen, moments later, it just feels like too little to sell the moment.

This film just misses its mark in a lot of ways. The grifting we see is strong for characterizing our three…

Stephen Frears has been one of my favourite directors throughout my life. Not exactly a household name despite nearly everyone, including those with only a passing interest in film, having either seen or likely heard of at least one of his films. This might suggest a "director for hire" reputation but there's so much more to the man than this moniker suggests, even if there may be an element of fact to it.

"The Hit" was my first Frears film and it made quite the impact when I saw it as a young teenager. He has been remarkably consistent in his inconsistency of stories he wants to tell, genres and even style. It's difficult to spot a Frears "flourish" or…