As every year (since 2017), Steven Soderbergh is back with a new
movie, a new Cohen Brothers movie to be exact, with his swirling yet simple
crime masterpiece that is - No Sudden Move (2021). Soderbergh creates a smooth
and precise crime ensemble drama, set in front of the back drop of the thriving
and the soon-to-be dwindling Detroit car industry, before its full collapse.
The film is part noir, part mob film about the urge to put blame on the
immediate characters of a bad situation, rather than putting continual focus on
the powers that be, that create bad situations from the outset; ie - The
government, the cops and the wealthy. Goynes maybe a murderous criminal, but at
the end of the day he’s a black man in 1954 Detroit trying to survive, and the
black mob may have power but they’re under the thumb of the Detroit PD, and
Italian mob maybe have connections in the Detroit PD but they’re playing in the
sand box of the white owned capitalism and auto industry, who happen to be
immigrants themselves and who are ultimately under the thumb of the US
government. Soderbergh paints a web of sobering reality that slowly dismantles
every character’s assumption of each other, and our hopes for our unexpected
heroes to succeed. Normal action movie standards would go into satisfying
results, but those are subverted here for the sake of realism. No Sudden Move
reminds us that even in the world of mob movies there’s always a bigger fish,
and that bigger fish is no mystery. It’s the same fish that we all have to
wrestle with and play taxes to (or avoid playing taxes to) and its reach knows
no bounds: Money.
Don Cheadle as Goynes, does some of his best work as the grizzled and
haggard criminal, just released from prison and known for a botched job. Don
Cheadle plays the sort of rolling soul of Detroit, and everyone else is the
gentrifying, abandoning reason for Detroit’s demise; With the resting cast
of Benicio Del Toro as the racist Russo, Brenden Fraser as the mysterious
Jones, Ray Liotta as Frank Capelli, Julia Fox as Vanessa Capelli, Kieran Culkin
as the focused Charley and David Harbour as the victim Matt Wertz.
Soderbergh has done some straight forward dramas recently about
business moguls, but it’s always perfect to see him tackle the realm of murder
and business. With 70’s patience and focus of straight to the point yet
informative scenes, and daringly goofy scenarios featuring slow witted but
endearing characters looking for any chance to proof themselves. All the
while, having a dark cloud create above them like impeding doom, enclosing on their
every decision in the form of a killer, the law or destitution.
No Sudden Move has the violence, the thrills, the suspense, the
cleverness, the insight and the truths without the unnecessary reward. And like
Soderbergh’s other movies, his underdog at the centre of the story, either
wins…… or survives. 10/10.
-
Maurice Jones
