Edward Norton bought the rights to Jonathan Lethem's novel Motherless Brooklyn in 1998 when he was at the peak of his career. American History X had just hit big, Fight Club was on the way and the 25th Hour was in the pipeline. He could do no wrong. Then nothing happened. But now after 20 years of messing around with the story, changing the setting from 1999 to post war America and adding a major new character he's finally brought it to the big screen and the result is........ well it's kinda underwhelming.
Lionel Essrog (Norton) works for a detective agency in Brooklyn ran by Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). As a child Lionel developed a severe case of Tourette's syndrome and his life in the orphanage where he lived was a tough one as a result. 3 boys, Gilbert, Danny and Tony protected him and eventually all 4 were taken under the wing of Minna and brought up in the way of detection. As an adult Lionel's affliction alienates some but his photographic memory has made him a valuable part of Frank's business. One day a shocking burst of violence rattles Lionel's world and he's forced to dive headfirst into a new case. One that will change his life forever when he finds himself crossing the path of Laura Rose, (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) an activist fighting gentrification and Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin), the man in charge of city development.
Everyone likes a bit of film noir. The style, the darkness, the brutality, the seedy underbelly of everyday life, it appeals to our baser instincts. Edward Norton likes film noir a little bit more than most. So much so that he changed a book's entire setting to suit his own sensibility. It doesn't work. It rings hollow. It's like a photocopy of an original. It looks the same but feels wrong. It's little moments that don't ring true. An interracial relationship that's never commented on, a man with a disorder like Tourette's who's rarely mocked. Nowadays no one would bat an eyelid but the 50's were less enlightened times. That kind of modern attitude just doesn't feel right in a period piece. If you're going to go noir you have to show the bad with the good.
Norton is strong in the lead and his Lionel is a sensitive and decent soul but a couple of moments of serious overacting undermine the tension the film generates. It feels like his Tourette's is being used at times for comic value and it feels a bit icky. That said it is good to see this kind of representation on screen. He never lets it hold him back. A lot of the time the story comes from a character's troubles but here it's just a fact of life for Lionel. It's been a while since I've cared about a Norton character onscreen and it's nice to feel that way again. Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Laura Rose puts in a fine shift too. A mixed race woman in post war America was always going to turn heads and it's this lived experience that helps her and Lionel come together as both know the feeling of being different. The chemistry between Norton and Mbatha-Raw is palpable and gives us a lovely moment of calm in a jazz club, the one time the film feels genuine.
While you watch this it's not hard to draw parallels between the then and the now. Lionel's investigations uncover all manner of dodginess where the have not's of the city are getting it in the neck and government officials act like untouchable demigods. Sounds fierce familiar doesn't it. At times the film is so blunt in it's message it feels like you're being hit over the head with a hammer. Motherless Brooklyn isn't a subtle film at all but having the bad guy played by someone who dresses up as Donald Trump every Saturday night on TV is genuine overkill. Baldwin is good in the part though. Recently we're used to the comic side of his persona but the man does good menace and here he oozes corruption and venality and his monologue on the true meaning of power is gut wrenchingly nasty and far too true to life.
Norton has given it a fair go but he falls short. There's plenty of goodness here though, some superb acting (even Bruce Willis turns off his recent sleepwalking mode), the propulsive score is a stunner and the film's evocation of 50's Brooklyn is very easy on the eye but the pieces never gel together. Ah well, it's better to try and fail than never try at all. In cinemas from today.
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