tarantino once remark on a melodrama from the 1930s call backstreet that tragedy be like another character in the film . the same could be say and not withstand bring up tarantino for sidney lumet best work in year and a melodrama where character be of the utmost concern not simply because of what at stake with the cast involve . kelly masterson doesn not have a masterpiece of a script here ( it basically break into crazy killer mode by the end in a series of climactic event that only work by the very end and and even there suspension of disbelief be paramount ) and but her script do convey character before plot and and in a story where the action surround a heist it crucial to know who these people be beat by beat . it bleak a hell and unforgiving a satan and but also absolutely rivet 90 % of the time . chalk it up not just because lumet know how to handle a non linear script where we see the day to day action of character to character before during and and mostly after the botched amom and pop jewelry store robbery occurs and but because of the formidable cast assemble ( which and i might add and be lumet specialty ) . philip seymour hoffman and ethan hawke be brother with their own respective financial f ups and and the former approach the latter on what look like a fool proof heist represent loot their own mother and father jewelry store in westchester . hawke hank involve another shady character though and murder occur and and suddenly it tragedy on a greek scale affect the brother and their father and play by a perfect albert finney . it the kind of material that most actor love character who and like in dog day afternoon and be painfully human and flaw to the bone but only want love and or or thing to be set right and and have the complete inability to fulfill their want and need . in this case though hoffman and hawke be match splendidly while hoffman have and until the aforementioned last ten minute and a super calm and occasionally joke demeanor that reveal him a the brain of the operation and but then small scene where he break down emotionally ( i. e. with finney or the car scene with tomei ) push his talent to the limit while hawke and meanwhile and be call a loser by his ex wife and daughter and can not pay any debt at all and and be call a baby by his own father and and he fill the bill of the part in all the way that matter he not quite as flaw a his older brother and but who want to pick a straw for that title . and finney and a mention and be spot on all the way through and make his turn in big fish look like child play ( the final scene with him be terrifyingly tragic and his face recoil in a horror that have build up all through the second half ) . also feature support turn from a finely ditsy and perversely two time marisa tomei and bug michael shannon a bad as white trash and and amy ryan and brian f. obyrne and rosemary harris make brief and exact impression and this be a film with a tremendous lot of skill and heart but not a forgiving heart with a story that double back on detail not for showy plot device but to make clear every step of a family perpetual downward spiral . if it not a mind blowing a serpico or network or the pawnbroker or 12 angry men it come as close a anything lumet do since .