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DVD Review: HOMICIDE

Studio: The Criterion Collection
Year: 1991
Cast: Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy, Natalija Nogulich, Ving Rhames, Vincent Guastaferro, Rebecca Pidgeon, J.J. Johnston, Jack Wallace, Lionel Mark Smith, Adolph Mall, Paul Butler, Ricky Jay, J.S. Block, Roberta Custer, Marge Kotlisky, Gail Silver, Scott Zigler, Steven Goldstein, Linda Kimbrough, Colin Stinton
Director: David Mamet
Release Date: September 08, 2009
Rating: Not Rated for language, violence
Run Time: 01h:41m:16s
Genre(s): drama, crime

"All we have to do is catch them. We don't have to figure them out." - Det. Bobby Gold (Joe Mantegna)

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David Mamet means lots and lots of dialogue. And I like that.

Movie Grade: B+

DVD Grade: B

There's a distinct rhythm to the way David Mamet writes dialogue, and it is that very percussive and layered staccato structure that gives his work its own unique texture. Homicide, his cleverly packed 1991 cop drama, exhibits nearly all of the standard-issue components, chock full of tightly wound patter, a familiar Mamet cast—led here by Joe Mantegna—and story that moves along an arc with a number of strange angles. It's the tale of a grizzled detective (Mantegna) with severe issues in the self-worth department who stumbles across a seemingly simple case that is about much more than just catching a bad guy.

Mantegna's Bobby Gold is a good cop, long partnered with the fast-talking Tim Sullivan (William H. Macy), both of whom are part of a colorful gaggle of detectives who are hot on the trail of a cop killer (Ving Rhames), hoping to catch him before the FBI does.

Through a weird series of coincidences (his being Jewish a key part), Gold is pulled off the big case in order to head up the investigation to find the killer of an old Jewish woman who ran a candy shop in a bad neighborhood. What follows for Gold is journey of deeply personal self-discovery, as dark secrets are revealed, conspiracies are hinted at, and a mystery stretching back to Nazi Germany begins to unravel.

Or is Gold just chasing paranoid shadows?

What looks initially like it might become a cliched police story is a whole lot more under Mamet's calculated watch, and the talents of master cinematographer Roger Deakins only helps to give a film like Homicide an intelligent visual pedigree. Deakins has a keen eye, and the grit and shadows of Gold's world are bland and almost colorless until about the midpoint of the film, as the character is suddenly ensnared in a whole new world.

It's here—once the cover gets pulled back and the plot begins to distort—that Gold is pulled down a very dark rabbit hole, and Mamet brazenly reminds us that he has other ideas about where this detective story should be going. Mamet works the dialogue department hard, and like a symphony conductor the words his characters speak carries a snappy streetwise cadence.

That old saying about the road to hell being paved with all those wasted good intentions could ultimately be Gold's mantra, because as his need to become a more significant person develops like some kind of slow-growing tumor a set of common sense blinders prevent him from being able to see everything all at once.

Naturally that's going to be good for absolutely no one, and Mamet quickly pitches the stage to keep his characters—and the viewer—off balance until the final you-have-to-be-kidding-me shot.

IMAGE/AUDIO
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer—supervised by Homicide editor Barbara Tulliver—is not necessarily one of Criterion's stunners, but it does capture all of the requisite "film" textures, including a somewhat bland color palette and a modicum of light grain. Black levels are noticeably weak, more of a problem during sequences like Det. Gold's phantom roof chase and the big final act confrontation, but fleshtones appear consistent for the duration. The 2.0 audio track doesn't offer much other than a clean and neat dialogue track, which is really more than enough for the chatty inner workings of a Mamet production.

EXTRAS Inside is a fifteen-page booklet, featuring Criterion's usual extensive production info, as well as an analysis of the film entitled What Are You, Then?, written by film critic Stuart Klawans. An audio commentary recorded in 2009 pairs up Mamet and actor William H. Macy, and with it we're given a look back not just at the film itself, but at Mamet's career, as well as his relationship with Macy over the years. This is not so much a companion to Homicide as it is a reminiscence and a corresponding Mamet-y history lesson. Good stuff.

The anamorphic widescreen Invent Nothing, Deny Nothing runs just over 21 minutes, and features pleasantly revelatory interviews with Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay, J.J. Johnston, Jack Wallace and Steven Goldstein, all of whom recall their background with Mamet and how it eventually merged into Homicide. A nonanamorphic gag reel (really? a gag reel?) runs almost 7 minutes and a set of nonanamorphic TV spots are also included.

Posted by: Rich Rosell - November 1, 2009, 6:08 pm - DVD Review
Keywords: david mamet, crime, criterion, joe mantegna