A tight, twisty script, meaningful stakes, a top director (Darren Aronofsky), and an A-plus cast have delivered a satisfyingly sharp thriller, “Caught Stealing.” It is also the most powerful PSA for wearing your seatbelt than any movie since the one they showed us in high school Driver’s Ed.
Austin Butler, continuing to impress, plays Hank, a sweet bartender and the world’s second-biggest fan of the San Francisco Giants. The biggest is his Mom, who is only heard on the phone until a brief scene at the very end, revealing the actress as a beloved Oscar-winner. The two are very close, talking on the phone every day, always signing off, “Love you. Go Giants.”
As the movie starts, it is September 1998: a big moment for the Giants in the playoffs. It is also about to be a significant and very scary moment for Hank.
After he gets off work at the bar, just before dawn, Hank and his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz) come back to his apartment. Hank’s neighbor, Russ (an unrecognizable Matt Smith), a British punk guy with a mohawk, is leaving his apartment for the airport because his father has had a stroke. Hank reluctantly agrees to take care of Russ’s mean cat, Bud. That is where the trouble starts.
Russ has gotten in trouble with some very, very scary Russian gangsters, who are themselves in trouble with some even scarier Hasidic gangsters (amusingly played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio). They think Hank can lead them to what Russ stole. That leads to some vicious beatings and ruthless murders as Hank tries to find his way out of the mess.
The screenplay is by Charlie Huston, based on his novel. Hank’s growing sense of purpose and agency, along with his backstory as an aspiring baseball player whose career was cut short by a car accident, probably comes across more smoothly in print. Fortunately, that takes up almost no time because most of the storyline revolves around Hank’s efforts to find a way out as two sets of vicious killers and a police detective (Regina King) put pressure on him to deliver something he has no idea how to obtain.
Aronofsky gets taut work from his “Black Swan” team, including cinematographer Matthew Libatique and editor Andrew Weisblum. They manage the intensity, letting up just enough for us to catch our breath, allowing us to discover the clues along with Hank, and then ramping up the tension again.
The film makes the most of its late ’90s setting, not just the songs from the Spin Doctors, Madonna, and Semisonic, but also the disadvantages faced by the characters and the advantages of the plot from the pre-iPhone era, when not everyone, every location, and every kind of information was instantly available. The audience at my screening was very amused when a character asked to share his phone said grumpily, “Don’t use up my minutes.” There are some understated, darkly humorous moments, especially when the Hasidic gangsters have to take, or, I should say, schlep, Hank to shabbos dinner with their bubbe (grandmother), adorably played by Carol Kane. Note the attention to detail when the bearded gangster grandsons, wearing hats and tallit, bring her a round challah, only appropriate at exactly that time of year.
This is a satisfyingly twisty thriller that is appropriate at any time of year. Thanks to all concerned for bringing their A game to a late summer genre story.
