By Joshua Encinias
Published on October 24, 2007
“We Own the Night” isn’t quotable. Nor is it the best film of 2007. But the ideas protruding from the screen should have you thinking about family.
The film opens to black and white photos, presumably of actual New York City police officers from the 1980s. Each picture is “in the moment” of an investigation. The pictures do not tell the audience what’s going on in each situation, but give a glimpse into the police world.
The audience’s introduction to Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) shows him entangled with his girl, Amada Juarez (Eva Mendes). Going from the glamorous Russian nightclub Green manages, to an induction ceremony catered with endless macaroni salads for his brother, Lieutenant Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg), the story shows years of conflict between the brothers and their legendary father, Deputy Chief Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) in their first on-screen meeting.
Coming into these characters’s lives midstream helps the film. It keeps an “in the moment” theme consistent throughout the film.
While the characters show few signs of brotherhood, the circumstances mar discretions within the family.
The best aspect of Green’s turbulent emotions is that the camera doesn’t add to the story. In a film like “Requiem for a Dream,” the camera work reflects each character’s perception at the time, giving an often dizzying feel to already heavy subject matter. There’s enough separation between the script and the camera in this film for the audience to bring connotations of their own family to the subject matter.
Director James Gray has helmed the best chase scene in recent film history. Getting away from the mile-a-minute quick edits found in films like “Transformers,” Gray takes his time with the traumatic chase between Russian gangsters (When did Russian mobs become the customary mob? They’re also featured in “Eastern Promises.”), Green and his father Burt. The sound is low key during the scene, giving clarity to the madness smashing into the police car in which Green is riding.
The film takes a final untraditional turn for Green, but the choice and transformation Green makes is best left to the paying public. But based on Green’s known history in the club scene, his turnaround at film’s end is surprising for modern cinema.
Gray’s subtlety in filming “We Own the Night” highlight his talent for story crafting, opposed to story telling