As far as I can judge, the primary complaint about Darren Aronofsky’s generally well-reviewed — though not very popular — new film, Caught Stealing, is that it’s not a typical Darren Aronofsky film.
But that’s exactly what I liked about it. I’ve been a nonfan of Aronofsky’s since Pi put him on the map back in 1998. It’s good to discover so late in the game that Aronofsky can tackle a nice lowdown genre movie and pull it off with a certain élan.
With a script by Charlie Huston adapted from his own novel Caught Stealing is a darkly comic crime film about an alcoholic bartender named Henry “Hank” Thompson (Austin Butler) living in the grimy Lower East Side of New York City in 1998. He’s got a dingy little apartment; a hot girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz); and a passionate love of baseball, especially the San Francisco Giants. He also has a tendency to wake up suddenly from bad nightmares of a youthful car accident that ended his professional baseball playing prospects.
One night, in the wee hours after he closes the bar, Hank comes home and runs into his punked-out Brit neighbor in the next-door apartment, Russ (Matt Smith). Reluctantly agreeing to cat-sit for Russ’s long-haired gray tabby, Bud, seems inconvenient but harmless enough. However, for reasons he can’t initially fathom, Hank soon winds up in the middle of violent rival interests on the hunt for both Russ and a huge stash of drug money. Hank’s first encounter with Russian mobsters leads to a beating that puts him in the hospital. When he gets out, he’s minus one kidney.
That means no more drinking — or that’s what it should mean — but there’s a lot of pressure involved in dodging goons, and alcohol is everywhere at home and at work and at all points in between. Hank hopes to get some help from a tough local cop named Detective Elise Roman (Regina King), but her best advice is to call her if he…
Auteur: Eileen Jones
