Motherless Brooklyn
★ ★ ★ - Okay
The moment Edward Norton's character first speaks, I thought I was in for an impossible time. It's the kind of mannered performance that always distracts because you're well aware of the actor's normal speaking voice. Add to that Norton as the writer and director and you've got the makings of an epic ego trip. However, like Nick Nolte's thick Italian in Lorenzo's Oil - obscure reference, but the same high bar - I was surprised how quickly I got used to it, and it speaks well of Norton that he understood Lionel's Tourettes isn't just something fancy for an actor to play with, but a core characteristic that gives the film a unique center.
It probably also helps that this is a neo-noir, mystery, and I'm all in for one of those. The mystery itself isn't that complicated, but it's built on a trope I love where the opening sequence contains all the clues, but because we're dropped in, the film has to keep returning to the scene, the mysterious events and the voices of those involved. The Conversation this isn't, nor is it Knives Out even, but there's definitely some fun to be had. A bit too much jazz, I really don't get jazz, but those scenes reminded me of Odds Against Tomorrow and The Phantom Lady. There are a couple of moments where Norton unapologetically borrows from classic Noir, but the film is overall not a carbon copy. Its biggest mistake is casting Alec Baldwin as an earnest version of a Trump type character.