Miller's Crossing

As disturbing and densely beautiful as its opening image, a lofty forest that dwarfs the gangsters as they laugh over their kill.

A masterpiece, but of a unique kind... A gorgeously filmed, supremely well-acted, intricately written film noir about now.

If, however, you're looking for compelling characters, all the lights are blazing here but nobody's at home.

Crossing should be watched not because it's their finest achievement (that's still to come), but because the brothers are keeping things refreshingly different and building a career, their minds still very much fixed on originality.

What it doesn't have is a narrative magnet to pull us through - a story line that makes us really care what happens, aside from the elegant but mechanical manipulations of the plot.

An elegant-looking picture, carefully made and beautifully put together, but when the gloss wears off, you're left with an experience that doesn’t quite satisfy. [5 Oct 1990, Daily Datebook, E10]

A lifeless, tedious picture... A complete dud. [29 Oct 1990, p.26]

The film maintains an elegant quality that comes to so natural to the seasoned directors, the actors are also held to that same position. The thick plot is lovingly sprinkled with twists and turns that will keep you watching, interesting, and thinking. When the day is over, this is classic gangster movie material, the Coen Brother's are at the top of their craft.

Despite some good performances Miller’s Crossing never quite manages to make it feel as though anything matters even after all the double-crosses and deaths.

Main actor's a bore. He talks like he has nasal congestions. The bosses in the movie act like clowns, not scary, no suspenses. The writing makes no sense. If you want a guy to pledge loyalty by killing someone, you sent him alone to the woods and not verify ? The fightings scenes and shooting scenes are ridiculous. The dialogues are so cheesy, crass.

Miller’s Crossing – A Different Take Yet another stylish but relatively empty Cohen Bros study of the wretchedly brutal lives of worthless underworld gangsters. Direction, characters, and dialogue are as measured as they are familiar and seem to be copying many gangster flicks that went before it. Take away the obviously slick scene set-ups and it’s just a shell that’s strung together in order to cram in as many killings, bashing, and double-crosses as three or four other movies just like it. The movie's main character (Byrne) is somewhat like a cartoon character who gets knocked down several flights of stairs, bashed so badly (and often) that it’s amazing he can ever stand again but the next day he’s on the street looking fresh as a daisy. The only wound ever visibly inflicted is a cracked lip (that he’s had since the movie started!). It’s all reminiscent of a Sergio Lorne spaghetti western, the type these moviemakers would have grown up watching. Fans will not see the flaws through being blinded by the trendy stylistics but judging by the poor box-office returns, many others were not being so fooled. Carter Burwell’s score, adapted from a Celtic classic is most effective but deserves a better subject. The last scene, this time reminiscent of a far better Carol Reed classic, also features a Hat scene that looks like it belonged in a dark, Disney remake of the story of Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet. A good cast wasted in more over the top nasty silliness.

Les frères Coen sont les réalisateurs les plus surestimés de leur époque et il n’est pas question de se demander combien de chefs-d’oeuvre ils ont fait mais combien de films corrects (ou bons, qui sait ?) ils ont… ou auraient réalisé ! la réponse à la louche est la suivante : pas beaucoup ! Et Miller machin n’en fait évidemment pas partie… ou fait plutôt partie de l’autre partie, celle du parti majoritaire chez les Coen, plus ou régulièrement tout au long de leur longue carrière, à savoir les films de merde ! Quant à « la Prohibition », c’est déjà un handicap sérieux en soi et pour commencer, parce qu’on s’en tape totalement de la « Prohibition » et des gangsters des années 20 mais y compris des années 20 aussi. Surtout aux Etats-Unis. Alors, ce vague scénario qui pue le déjà avec ce gars qui joue au plus malin entre les deux gangs qui se mettent sur la gueule, c’est d’un ennui que même les rares fusillades ne parviennent pas à égratigner. En outre, tout est rapidement prévisible et ça n’avance presque pas ou si lentement qu’on dirait du surplace pendant pas loin de deux plombes. Les acteurs jouent mal, empêtrés qu’ils sont dans le besoin de caricature souvent grotesque voulu et dicté par les Coen, lesquels s’enlisent dans les clichés encore plus vite que prévu ! bref, une catastrophe d’ennui à n’en plus finir !