Motherless Brooklyn Review

The noir mystery Motherless Brooklyn that’s ambitiously directed, written, and starring Edward Norton is a meticulous and unorthodox gumshoe drama that refuses to reveal its answers quickly. This gives the audience an invitation to put its pieces together before the lead protagonist can, resulting in an experience that undeniably rewards those who are patient. The film gives much of its time establishing various characters, events, and subplots that all feed the investigation while also ranging on a vast scale of intrigue. Luckily, the path that Norton ultimately pursues comes to a satisfying and complex ending that is only possible by the established actions and motives of each character involved. Full of wonderful performances and a brilliantly jazzy score, Norton finds success in many elements of his jagged and vintage noir.

Set in New York during the 1950s, Motherless Brooklyn follows Lionel Essrog, a private investigator living with Tourette Syndrome. While out doing a job with his mentor and friend, Frank Minna, Lionel quickly becomes wrapped in a situation that results in Minna being killed. With only a few clues and the mysterious dying words of his long-time friend to go off, Lionel attempts to put together the pieces of the puzzle that will lead him to the men who killed Frank. But the journey that takes him through the Harlem jazz bars to the New York elitists soon becomes something much bigger than a murder case.

The faithfulness that Motherless Brooklyn exhibits to its genre is conflicting in its execution. While the vintage sleuth storyline may be a refreshing narrative change for modern theatergoers who are more accustomed to superhero and horror films filling their cinemas, but those who are more familiar with the genre may find that the film takes too much blatant inspiration from films like Chinatown and The Third Man, embedding it deep into nearly every element of Mother. While this can sometimes be distracting and take away from the originality of the film, it very rarely reduces the overall enjoyment.

Although the events and character arcs are not exactly consistent in terms of surprise or fascination, everything is kept bound together from a performance by Norton that is full of purpose and presence, fitting naturally into the lived-in world that he and the production design team have created. Accompanied by co-stars like Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe, every personality is given the focus needed for the slow yet fulfilling narrative to work.

Ultimately, Motherless Brooklyn is in no way a reinvention of the classic sleuth narrative and structure, often conjuring its biggest problems from its frequency in paying homage to many of the classics. But overall, Norton presents a focused and fruitful addition to the genre during a point in cinema where these films rarely get the wide releases the once did.

Often unoriginal yet thougtfully crafted, the satisfying closures to each loose end as well as the great performances help make Edward Norton’s adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn a welcomed addition to a now rarely produced genre.

Produced By: MWM Studios
Runtime: 144 minutes
Rating: R