The Drop | Film review - Tom Hardy's barman keeps a tight lip

Boasting terrific performances by Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini (in his last film role) and Matthias Schoenaerts, gripping crime thriller The Drop revolves around a blue-collar Brooklyn bar that sometimes serves as an underworld money drop.

His name still above the door, Gandolfini’s Cousin Marv still seethes with resentment at being forced to sell the bar to Chechen mobsters a decade earlier. Hardy’s lonely bartender Bob keeps a tight lip. He’s hard to read. Is he slow on the uptake, soft-hearted?

The latter it would seem when he rescues a battered pit bull puppy from a dustbin, an act that draws him into the lives of Rapace’s wary waitress Nadia and her abusive ex-boyfriend, notorious local thug Eric Deeds (Schoenaerts).

Making his debut as a screenwriter, novelist Dennis Lehane (author of Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island) blends gritty urban noir with a fable-like story of sin and redemption. With Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam (Bullhead) keeping a firm grip on the twisty plot while sustaining a claustrophobic atmosphere, it’s a surprisingly successful mix.

Certificate 15. Runtime 106 mins. Director Michaël R Roskam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJZtoAKDf_8

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.