046 - Homicide

Synopsis: Jewish cop questions his identity and loyalty

Director: David Mamet

Actors: Joe Mantegna, William H Macy

Date: 1990

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:

A harrowing, suspenseful mixture of cop stuff and philosophy, one of the Ten Best Films of 1990, and one of the sadly neglected films of the last decade.

I say:

This is a rather sad film about an outsider, a cop who doesn't fit in with his colleagues, a Jew who doesn't acknowledge his Jewishness, and who constantly makes poor, and sometimes fatal, decisions. It starts off as a cop film, with Mantegna and Macy about to pull off a major coup by tracking down a major drug dealer / cop killer, but Mantegna gets pulled into another case, the murder of an old Jewish woman shop-keeper. As he gets drawn deeper into the woman's friends and family, he starts to question his loyalty, which leads to him having to making choices between the cops and the Jews. I feel it could have been a much more powerful piece, especially given the major twist at the end, which throws the whole storyline up into the air, but it's hard to engage with the characters and there's a lack of logic to the story. Also, irritatingly, a lot of the film is shot at night, or in dark warehouses, so half the time it's difficult to know what's going on!! Incidentally I watched the last episode of 'The Killing II' on TV last night, and it would be good sometime to watch a cop film/series where the detectives actually slowly and carefully interview the suspects and put together the jigsaw, instead of running off in all directions following wild geese, or just don't seem interested, or don't ask logical questions - perhaps I should go back to watching Poirot or NCIS...