Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) is a film that feels wired to the psyche of its main character. Working itself up into fits of rage and down into long, disconsolate sighs, it tells the story of drug dealer Monty Brogan's last day of freedom before turning himself over for a seven-year jail sentence. The filmmakers, including star Edward Norton and writer David Benioff, had the courage to leave a lot in the story unsaid, and it was editor Barry Alexander Brown who was there to have their back. He does such a masterful job evoking the mental state of the protagonist that at times it is like we in the audience are thinking Monty's thoughts along with him.
Apart from carrying the film's thematic weight, there are moments during the course of the film when it seems Brown and Lee decide to bust out a virtuoso sequence just because they can. The dance sequence in the club is a show-stopper in the way so many similar scenes attempt and so few pull off. And the lengthy dream sequence that ends the movie is like the flip side of the "F- you" montage, a long, elegiac fantasy filled with an undercurrent of bitter rage at the inevitable reality approaching to wipe it away.
Late last year when the best of the decade polls started to accumulate, it was gratifying to see the frequent presence of 25th Hour on the lists. Overlooked in 2002 during the year-end glut of Oscar bait, it was dismissed by many at the time as a successful, if minor, entry in Spike's filmography. Now time has revealed its depth and staying power. But in all the accounts of the film's greatness not once did I read Brown's name. Why would I? When it comes to being overlooked who can beat the contribution an editor makes to a film's success? There is no evidence of his labors in the finished project that can't be credited to someone else. Yet when one looks at Brown's body of work it becomes clear that if the Spike Lee brand means anything to film lovers, then Barry Alexander Brown is a large part of that achievement.
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4 comments:
Once again, you're "unsung" makes me want to sing. The editing is really marvelous here and editors in general don't get props. It must be a creatively interesting collaborative profession but a thankless one outside of the actual editing room.
that f you mirror speech is something else too.
I love this movie, and the editing of it is the strongest individual element, I'd say (nominated it in my own personal awards back in the day - I'd probably give it the win if you asked me now).
It has definitely influenced me in my own editing style when I make short films. I just love the portrait shots in the "F You" speech, when the people (be they cabbies, florists or cops) pose for the camera. I know that's editing and cinematography as well, but the pacing and the tone of the whole sequence is created by Brown, and it's pretty much perfection.
One of the best reviews I've seen of 25th hour. This is definitely the greatest film ever made in my opinion. One thing, I'm sure of is that it will be considered a masterpiece in the years to come.
One of my favorites. I don't understand how the critics overlooked it as just as another piece of Oscar tripe. Maybe it fell short of some of the certain expectations they had for it, but it's aged pretty damn well.
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