Live by Night

There are few experiences at the movies less disheartening than when a film by a strong director and a great cast just never comes to life.  In the case of Live by Night, that strong director is Ben Affleck (who also stars and penned the screenplay), fresh off his Oscar win for directing Argo.  Not only that, he is adapting a novel by Dennis Lehane, whom he has adapted successfully in the past in his earlier directing effort, Gone, Baby, Gone.  Throw in a wonderful cast of talent and former Oscar nominees and winners, and you should have a sure bet.

So, what happened here?  Why is the movie so dry and dragged out to the point that it feels like it's much longer than it actually is?  Why does it feel like there is no energy or momentum to the narrative?  Oh, there are some good performances here to be sure.  The movie even looks great, and was obviously supplied a healthy budget.  But there's just nothing in the story that grabs us, and that is the fatal flaw.  This is a movie made by a master, but it is missing the passion and energy of his previous times behind the camera.  Perhaps Affleck was in over his head trying to pull off a crime epic that spans several years.  I know he can do better than this, has done better, and will likely do better the next time out.  My only guess as to what happened this time out is that his heart wasn't in it as much as in the past.

Affleck plays Joe Coughlin, who starts the film out as a low level crook in Prohibition time who prefers to hold up banks and poker games instead of getting involved with the mob.  He's living a fairly good life in Boston with his girlfriend, Emma (Sienna Miller), who just happens to be the daughter of the boss of the Irish mob, Albert White (Robert Glenister).  However, Joe wants more to his life, and decides he's going to run off with Emma after his friends and him pull off one last heist.  Albert happens to catch wind of this, and not wanting to lose his daughter, sets Joe up to take a fall.  Joe does survive, and decides he wants revenge.  He turns to Albert's main enemy, the Italian mobster Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone), wanting to be placed in job of taking down White and his mob.  Maso sends Joe to Florida, where he is building an empire in the rum trade during Prohibition.  During the years he spends working for the mob, Joe will fall in love with a young woman named Graciela (Zoe Saldana), be put into a direct duel with the Ku Klux Klan, and run into some personal troubles concerning a young girl named Loretta (Elle Fanning), who just happens to be the daughter of the local police chief (Chris Cooper).

Live by Night is large in scope, and features a stellar cast, all of whom each get their own individual moments to stand out.  There's not a single bad performance up on the screen, and they do manage to occasionally grab our interest.  But the story is dead in the water.  It jumps from one plot point to the next with little sense of urgency.  There's no forward momentum, and no sense that we are being taken along by these characters.  Instead, this is a movie made up of small moments of bright acting, all surrounded by long stretches where not much seems to happen.  Up to now, Affleck has shown a great sense of storytelling and building tensions in his past efforts in the directing chair, but something seems to be off here.  We don't sense a great need to tell this story like there has been in his past films.

This is a surprisingly forgettable movie.  Sure it looks great, and it's being acted by professionals, but so what?  The movie's sense of time and place also seems a bit off.  We don't feel transported to another place and time like a great movie can truly do.  Instead, it constantly feels like it was filmed on some studio backlot.  There is no sense of grand scope like we would expect.  None of the settings feel lived in or real.  Everything looks staged, and...Well, like a massive set.  We know we're constantly watching a movie, because everything looks glossed over and clean.  For a story set in the crime underworld, there is none of the intensity or shadowy atmosphere that we expect.  Everything's polished, and despite how good the performances can be, we're constantly reminded that we're just watching actors walking around in period clothes.  They never come to life as characters.

Live by Night was given a limited release during Christmas in the hopes that it would get some Award attention.  Obviously, the plan backfired, and rightly so.  This is a somewhat soulless production by some big names.  Sure, you admire the effort they're putting into it, but you also have to wonder why they're bothering in the first place.

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