37. The Drop

This was an OnDemand viewing on Friday January 30th. Directed by Belgian Michael Roskam and starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandalfini in one of his last roles before his untimely death. Hardy is Bob Saginowski, a bartender at a Brooklyn dive bar that serves as a "drop" location for unlaundered mob money. Bob works with Marv (Gandolfini), who used to own the bar, called Cousin Marv's, before being pushed out by a Chechen organized crime group. Suffice to say, Marv is a little bitter about being losing the bar and being relegated to a 3rd class citizen within the organized crime social structure.

The film opens at the bar with Bob and the regulars toasting an neighborhood guy Richie Whelan who was murdered 10 years ago (Richie's murder is an important plot point so bear with me).  As Bob is walking home after work, he finds a pit bull puppy in a garbage can of Nadia (Rapace). Nadia helps Bob care for the injured dog and Bob leaves the dog with her while he decides to either keep it or give it over to a shelter. The next night as the bar is closing, two masked gunmen rob the place of $5k in cash. Bob notices that one of them is wearing a broken wrist watch and actually mentions in to the police. Now Marv and Bob are not made men nor do the have the connections they once had but they still live by the mob code of omerta, which simply means don't talk to the cops about anything. It doesn't take long for the Chechen mobsters to show up and start asking questions and they're not too happy about the fact that Bob "cooperated" with the cops. They also want to see if Bob and Marv know a guy who's in the back of van (in not too good of shape) and that they want their money.

Bod decides to keep the dog and names him Rocco. He also starts to develop a nice relationship with Nadia. Bob runs into Eric Deeds and he tells Bob that the dog is his and he wants it back. While opening the bar one afternoon there's a severed arm, with a broken watch, sent to them and some bloody money. Bob casually preps it for disposal and Eric Deeds shows up again (asking for a Zima for crying out loud). Marv  lets Bob know that Deeds is a local thug who has taken credit for killing Whelan. The Chechens get their money back and they tell Marv that the bar will open up for drops beginning on Super Bowl Sunday. In the mean time Deeds is really giving Bob are hard time and demands $10k for Rocco.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Marv orchestrated the robbery at the bar and after killing the last person who knows he's involved, he decides to bring Deeds in to rob the bar after the Super Bowl. Marv calls in sick on super sunday which Bob finds suspicious. He gets even more suspicious when Deeds shows up with Nadia. With the bar empty, Deeds makes his move to rob the bar and even threatens Nadia. Bob then tells the story of Richie Whelan's death, it turns out that Marv was a loan shark and Richie was into him for a lot of money. Richie wins big at a casino and looks to pay Marv back but Marv has been skimming, so Richie has to go. Bob reveals that it was he who killed Whelan and took care of the body. Then he shoots Deeds. Marv, who prepped his car to dispose of Deed's body after the robbery, is executed. The film ends with the detective investigating the robbery informing Bob that Deeds had been taking credit or Whelan's death for years but he was actually in a mental institution for observation the night of Whelan's disappearance and that Deeds has gone missing. The detective turns to Bob as he's leaving and says, "no one ever sees you coming do they?"

Roskam did a nice job of painting a grim portrait of life around Cousin Marv's bar and the lives of everyone in this section of Brooklyn. AThings are dark, gritty and there's not a lot of hope but people carry on anyway. The pace is sometimes slow but never boring and with just enough intrigue to keep things moving along. Marv is not happy with his drop in status and his life is so terrible that he has to risk robbing the drop to get out. Gandolfini was excellent in his performance but was overshadowed by Hardy. Bob Saginowski comes off as a bit of a simpleton but it's not the case. He lulls you to sleep so you'll drop your guard. The Drop reminded me a bit of Killing Them Softly, except that this film was much better. I look forward to seeing more features directed by Roskam and will make at least a half hearted attempt to see his other films.