Motherless Brooklyn

Edward Norton paints the perfect picture of 1950s New York in his screenwriting debut (his second outing as director) of Motherless Brooklyn. The roads are filled with ‘Hudson Hornets’ and ‘Mercury Coupes’, fogs lifts through the sewers surrounding the sidewalks and everyone is dressed in differing shades of black and white. In the centre of this story is Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton), a private detective working for Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). Lionel has a backstory like any other gloomy detective, he was rescued from an abusive orphanage by Frank and he has a photographic memory like no other. However there is a trait that Lionel has which causes problems in his work, often alienating him from people, he has Tourette syndrome.

Norton has made a name for himself as being someone ‘too difficult to work with’, he was given the can from Marvel Studios after his domineering presence in The Incredible Hulk as well as a history of directors stating he often steps over his role. So acting as an auteur for this film, Norton is able to dictate and decide on every little factor. For the most part a lot of it works, his performance as a detective is great, with the Tourette’s Association of America approving his portrayal. The large ensemble around him proves that Norton’s way of working has a likability to it. According to Norton himself, the principal major stars all worked for free on this, lending a favour to their friend for the 45 day shoot. It has mixed results, Willem Dafoe gives it his all as you would expect in the character of ‘Paul’, a man with his own dark secrets but willing to help the audience and Lionel along the way as the plot unravels. But on the other side you have Bruce Willis’ portrayal of Frank, who’s emitting as much charisma as Bill Murray did for the Garfield movies.

Subsequently Norton’s directorial style takes reference to the noirs that came before it. The New York aesthetic works great for the film, the production design compliments the harsh shadows that the film incorporates for a lot of its scenes. Although there’s little for experimentation in this genre, there’s an inclusion of close ups and playing with focus that demonstrates the input that has gone into this. But there’s conflicting times when some of the surrealist scenes appear off, taking us out of the New York environment and right in front of a green screen.

Being a lover of jazz, I may appear biased in that the tone of the film, being carried by Daniel Pemberton’s blues score. Its use of colour makes certain scenes interesting, most specifically ones set in a Harlem jazz bar. But then a lot of exterior daytime scenes are somewhat lacking, maybe black and white would have improved these but I think the runtime of this may be the ultimate problem. At a heavy 144 minutes, the film keeps your interest for so long until it introduces one too many subplots where you’re left wanting everything to be wrapped up soon.

Overall, Motherless Brooklyn is a mixed bag, having innovative highs and clichéd lows. Its redemption of an almost-forgotten genre is somewhat refreshing in the large palette of films that have been released this year. It’s just a shame that rather than deep dive into the film-noir that came before it, it only dips its toes into the shallow end.

7/10