In the oddly closed-in God's Pocket neighbourhood in Philadelphia circa 1980, Mickey (Hoffman) delivers meat and gets involved in various low-level scams with his pal Arthur (Turturro). But when Mickey's hotheaded stepson Leon (Landry Jones) is killed in a suspicious workplace accident, his tentative grip on stability starts to slip. The local mortician (Marsan) convinces Mickey to buy a far-too-expensive casket to help sooth grieving wife Jeanie (Hendricks), just as a meat heist with Arthur and their careless pal Sal (Lombardozzi) takes a turn. Meanwhile, a jaded local-celebrity journalist (Jenkins) starts prowling around.

There's plenty going on here to sustain the film's relatively brief running time, and each scene propels the characters further into a no-win situation. In this community everyone knows all of everyone else's business, so there isn't a private emotion or action. Indeed, sometimes the fact that all secrets are out in the open is rather liberating. Although mostly it just causes further relational carnage.

Hoffman is superbly hang-dog as Mickey, struggling to keep his head above water in the midst of a thunderstorm. Nothing goes right for him, and watching him be increasingly beaten-down is painful. Hendricks is a bit drippy as Jeanie; her relationship with Mickey isn't great to start with, and it's never clear why her son is such a loser or why she lets herself drift into a dodgy situation. Meanwhile, Turturro and Marsan provide spark in their lively roles, as does scene-stealer Van Patten as Arthur's trigger-happy aunt.

As the story develops, so little actually happens that the film feels paper-thin. It isn't: this is a portrait of a community dealing in its own way with economic strains and unexpected death. And Slattery directs with a vivid focus on the actors and their detailed, internalised performances. But a bit more attention to the trajectory of the narrative would have helped a lot. As would letting the subtext gurgle to the surface from time to time.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

3.Jul.14