God's Pocket

(Image credit: © Arrow Films)

Philip Seymour Hoffman, typically superb in one of his final roles, heads the cast in this darkly comic crime drama

Philip Seymour Hoffman, typically superb in one of his final roles, heads the cast in this darkly comic crime drama.

In a tough, working-class corner of late-1970s Philadelphia known as 'God's Pocket', Hoffman is one of the district's scrappy blue-collar denizens and there are vivid  supporting performances from Christina Hendricks, Richard Jenkins, John Turturro and Eddie Marsan.

The plot involves a corpse being driven around in a meat-truck alongside slabs of stolen beef and events border on the farcically surreal. But the film's sympathy for its characters means that beneath the comedy there is an air of genuine sadness and real feeling.

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