Live By Night was released yesterday in France, it’s directed, produced and written by Ben Affleck who also stars in the movie along with Zoe Saldana, Chris Messina, Chris Cooper, Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning and Brendan Gleeson.
Ben Affleck is a multi-talented person, he’s great at writing, directing and acting and since the first movie he directed Gone Baby Gone, I always look forward to see his new movies! With Live By Night, Affleck gives us another fantastic movie. This time, it’s an old-fashioned gangster movie, and it sends us back into these old gangster movies and that’s what I really love about Live By Night, Affleck totally nailed it on this level. It’s a slow-paced movie, there’s not much action and when there’s action, it’s there to serve the story and the characters, it’s all about the atmosphere in the movie and how Joe Coughlin (played by Affleck) becomes this gangster.
What was strange at first was the almost constant narration by the main character Joe throughout the movie, but when you get used to it, you realize it adds to the story and to the character himself, a bit like he was narrating his own story.
Joe’s story was captivating, to see from a simple thief, he became a big gangster, it was a long road for the character. Each character coming into the story gives him a lesson he learns that helps him grow, that helps evolve. He faces different challenges in his life, he’s someone rising in this world of violence, he changes to be not just a simple thief but a cruel man, a cruel business man. The movie has three acts, his beginnings in Boston would be the first act, the second act would be his rise in Ybor City and the third act his way out of this world. What starts the third act is his final conversation with Loretta (played by Elle Fanning) who opens his eyes just before she kills herself. He realizes what he has in his life and what it’s worth but all the characters are in some way trapped in their own sins, in their own nightmares and pay the price of it. For Loretta, it’s her life, for Irvin Figgis (played by Chris Cooper) it’s his mind up to the point where he gets shot by Joe, for Dion Bartolo, it’s his life too, he stays in this world of violence and there is only one end in this gangster world for people. Joe also pays the price of his past as a gangster by loosing his wife and having to raise his son on his own but at least, he walks away from this world of violence, he escapes fate. The final act is marked by this big action sequence in the hotel when Joe and his men stop the Italian mafia, it’s the action sequence of the movie and it’s highly intense, it keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end of this sequence.
Joe’s story wasn’t only interesting because of his story arc but also of his own character, he fought against the KKK, he had values and that was also an interesting side of his character.
The whole cast is fabulous giving compelling performances.
The costumes and sets are excellent, Affleck depicted the America from the 1920s amazingly. Harry Gregson-Williams composed an outstanding soundtrack, that stays stuck in your head for a little while, it’s beautiful.
8/10 A captivating movie reminiscent of the old gangster movies, Ben Affleck nails it once again as a director, writer and actor.
A Fistful Of Movies 