Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.
Miller's Crossing is a masterwork of neo-noir, with the Coens constructing an intricate, layered web of loyalty, betrayal, and double-crosses that rewards close attention. The plotting is genuinely labyrinthine and exceptional. The acting is uniformly outstanding — Gabriel Byrne is ice-cold and magnetic, Albert Finney commands every scene, and John Turturro delivers one of the decade's most memorable supporting performances. Roger Deakins-adjacent cinematography (actually Barry Sonnenfeld) is lush and painterly, with the iconic hat-in-the-wind dream sequence and the forest killing scene standing as visual high points. As a piece of cinema, it is utterly singular — the Coens riff on Hammett and classic gangster films but synthesize them into something wholly their own. The ending, while thematically coherent, is comparatively muted and restrained, and its emotional payoff is deliberately cold, which some find flat rather than profound — the one area where the film pulls its punches slightly.