In Brooklyn, Bob (Hardy) tends bar at Cousin Marv's, which Marv (Gandolfini) manages for the new owner, Chechen mobster Chovka (Aronov). When the joint is robbed, Chovka demands the lost $5,000, so it's up to Bob and Marv to track down the thieves. Meanwhile, Bob rescues an abused puppy and nurses it back to health with Nadia (Rapace), a neighbour whose menacing ex Eric (Schoenaerts) sadistically stalks Bob, threatening to take both the dog and Nadia. All of this escalates until the night that the bar becomes the drop for the day's mafia takings.

Belgian filmmaker Roskam establishes the seedy atmosphere then quietly starts working on the characters. Lehane's screenplay (based on his short story Animal Rescue) may be packed with the usual crime-world cliches, but these people are all conflicted and reticent, trying to add meaning to lives that they have little control over. In this sense, each character is a dark horse, capable of things no one can imagine. When pushed into a corner they reveal their true colours.

Hardy delivers a likably textured turn as the puppy-like Bob, a man who knows how to keep his head down to throw off the predators. There's more than a hint of the fighter in him, but he knows when to step back. His scenes with Rapace's tough-vulnerable Nadia and Schoenaerts' electrically charged Eric are intense and unpredictable. While the interplay with the terrific Gandolfini gives the film its momentum, revealing both the tight bond and stark differences between them, because Marv isn't so careful about how he deals with the mob.

For a gritty crime drama, the film's moody, witty tone is intriguingly welcoming. Obviously, the quietly gurgling tension has to erupt in the final act, but Roskam avoids the usual big action movie fireworks. By remaining humane and earthy, with violence that's horrible but never blunt, the film makes a thoughtful, understated comment on the small decisions we make that feed into our everyday lives and our ultimate fate.

themes, language, violence

10.Oct.14