Dom HemingwayYou may think that rage can carry you through any ordeal, but instead the opposite is true; it ruins everything. Dom Hemingway is a British gangster movie and black comedy about the eponymous Dom Hemingway (Jude Law), a brutish man who repeats his name so much during the movie that you can't forget it. Dom is a safe cracker and has done twelve years of hard time following a heist on behalf of his employer, a Russian gangster and assassin named Ivan Anatolievich Fontanov, a.k.a. "Mr. Fontaine" (Demián Bichir). Once freed, he and his longtime ally, Dickie Black (Richard E. Grant)--since deprived of his left hand courtesy of a job for Fontaine gone wrong--journey to Fontaine's palatial estate in the south of France to receive his reward...but only if he can manage to avoid antagonizing his benefactor.
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Dom Hemingway is the kind of movie where the protagonist (Dom) is forced to confront all of the poor choices he has made over life and reevaluate his priorities...it just takes him right up until the end to get there. From the first, the brash and profane convict elicits a paean to his genitalia while being "serviced", establishing him as conceited and coarse immediately. (One of a slew of titles interjects afterward for comic punctuation, citing "12 years can be a long time".) Dom is utterly self-absorbed, and full of an overload of anger, rage, and intensity that splashes all over anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in his line of fire. He dresses like a British gangster from the Seventies or Eighties, à la Michael Caine in Get Carter. His wardrobe is especially telling, since it--among other things--identifies him as a relic of a bygone era. He is perpetually surly, which is understandable in part if only because he has discovered that his daughter, Evelyn (Emilia Clarke), has grown up without him, and his wife died of cancer while he was incarcerated. But Dom allows anger to rule his life, and in his unfettered rage, he even assaults Evelyn's stepfather, blaming him for stealing his wife. Dickie tolerates Dom's insufferably poor manners (to a point) because of their shared past. Both men are crooks, although Dickie is far more "English" about it, laconic and subdued. Dickie has also done much better for himself than Dom, it would appear. Why? Because he doesn't instigate trouble. What Dickie understands that Dom doesn't is that they live in a world where the rules are subjective, dictated by those in power. Dom struts about like a proud peacock, demanding the best and spewing anger at anyone who (in his eyes) has wronged him. He is a harsh man, and harsh men rarely make friends. That's why Dickie's friendship is such a surprise. Perhaps it's a sense of loyalty, or just that they are both essentially antiques. Dom had his chance to make his name in his rowdy youth. Instead, he traded his birthright away for the proverbial mess of pottage...and not even that when all is said and done.
Dom is an unabashed egomaniac, flouting Fontaine's hospitality, flirting with his girlfriend, Paolina (Mădălina Diana Ghenea), and insulting him with puerile names and profanity. And as Dickie reminds him, Fontaine is one of the most dangerous men in the world. So either Dom is incredibly stupid or he is suicidal; in truth, it's probably the former. But if Dom were suicidal, it might stand to reason that it is because he has realized just how many of his blessings that he has squandered. After Dom receives his recompense for staying quiet in the can for over a decade, the men party with a few "working girls", doing drugs and more. This builds to Dom driving (while exceeding intoxicated) a convertible through the dark, winding streets of the countryside in what is, I'm sure, a nod to A Clockwork Orange. One car accident later, Dom finds that one of the girls named Melody (Kerry Condon) is face down in the mud and is not breathing. Despite appearances, he (somehow) successfully administers CPR and revives her. She tells him that because he saved her life that at some point in the future, when he least expects it, he will be blessed with luck. Ironically, everything starts to go wrong for Dom from here. Paolina runs off with his money, and he returns to London broke and smashed up from the wreck. Where does he go? His daughter's flat, where she begrudgingly lets him recover until he is able to walk out the door, as he is reminded by her boyfriend, Hugh (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett). Dom meets his quiet grandson and for a moment longs to build a relationship. But Dom hasn't really let it sink in that his grand escapades of crime and high-stakes rewards are over. Without a lead on Paolina, he tries to ingratiate himself into the good graces of the son of an erstwhile criminal rival named Lestor (Jumayn Hunter), who remains embittered toward Dom for killing his cat long ago. (Understandable.) Here is Dom continuing to receive his comeuppance, forced to face the punishment for his past transgressions. Dom pleads with Lestor for a job, showing just how far he has fallen. (His wardrobe also takes on a far more humble, less outlandish look, signifying that his peacock has been plucked.) Lestor agrees on one condition: that he can open his safe within ten minutes. One would think that Dom would finally realize that this is truly his last chance at living this life on the other side of the law, but he gets drunk and mocks the young kingpin in his own club while doing his work. Dom barely escapes intact after this encounter, yet even then he believes that this life is his destination. It isn't until he (coincidentally) crosses paths with Melody again that he is reminded about what is most important to him: his daughter. This is the albatross that has hung around his neck for all of this time. He realizes that the money he bled for was just for sport, and had no deeper meaning. In short, it brought him no joy, and really only brought him suffering. Devoid of all options, he is forced to confront the emptiness within. Dom has to finally grow up, has to finally admit that this crass and angry exterior has alienated himself from virtually everyone who matters. Laid bare and defanged, he has to face his demons and ask just what it was all for.
Recommended for: Fans of an expletive-laden black comedy about a former gangster who finds what truly matters is the family he left behind. Like its namesake, Dom Hemingway is exceedingly reluctant to shed its superficial cool guy veneer and speak to anything deeper until the movie is practically over. It hopes to shock its audience with a brassy protagonist who skirts by for a while owing to his devil-may-care attitude, but--like Dom--is forced to concede that maintaining such a front cannot be sustained.
Dom is an unabashed egomaniac, flouting Fontaine's hospitality, flirting with his girlfriend, Paolina (Mădălina Diana Ghenea), and insulting him with puerile names and profanity. And as Dickie reminds him, Fontaine is one of the most dangerous men in the world. So either Dom is incredibly stupid or he is suicidal; in truth, it's probably the former. But if Dom were suicidal, it might stand to reason that it is because he has realized just how many of his blessings that he has squandered. After Dom receives his recompense for staying quiet in the can for over a decade, the men party with a few "working girls", doing drugs and more. This builds to Dom driving (while exceeding intoxicated) a convertible through the dark, winding streets of the countryside in what is, I'm sure, a nod to A Clockwork Orange. One car accident later, Dom finds that one of the girls named Melody (Kerry Condon) is face down in the mud and is not breathing. Despite appearances, he (somehow) successfully administers CPR and revives her. She tells him that because he saved her life that at some point in the future, when he least expects it, he will be blessed with luck. Ironically, everything starts to go wrong for Dom from here. Paolina runs off with his money, and he returns to London broke and smashed up from the wreck. Where does he go? His daughter's flat, where she begrudgingly lets him recover until he is able to walk out the door, as he is reminded by her boyfriend, Hugh (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett). Dom meets his quiet grandson and for a moment longs to build a relationship. But Dom hasn't really let it sink in that his grand escapades of crime and high-stakes rewards are over. Without a lead on Paolina, he tries to ingratiate himself into the good graces of the son of an erstwhile criminal rival named Lestor (Jumayn Hunter), who remains embittered toward Dom for killing his cat long ago. (Understandable.) Here is Dom continuing to receive his comeuppance, forced to face the punishment for his past transgressions. Dom pleads with Lestor for a job, showing just how far he has fallen. (His wardrobe also takes on a far more humble, less outlandish look, signifying that his peacock has been plucked.) Lestor agrees on one condition: that he can open his safe within ten minutes. One would think that Dom would finally realize that this is truly his last chance at living this life on the other side of the law, but he gets drunk and mocks the young kingpin in his own club while doing his work. Dom barely escapes intact after this encounter, yet even then he believes that this life is his destination. It isn't until he (coincidentally) crosses paths with Melody again that he is reminded about what is most important to him: his daughter. This is the albatross that has hung around his neck for all of this time. He realizes that the money he bled for was just for sport, and had no deeper meaning. In short, it brought him no joy, and really only brought him suffering. Devoid of all options, he is forced to confront the emptiness within. Dom has to finally grow up, has to finally admit that this crass and angry exterior has alienated himself from virtually everyone who matters. Laid bare and defanged, he has to face his demons and ask just what it was all for.
Recommended for: Fans of an expletive-laden black comedy about a former gangster who finds what truly matters is the family he left behind. Like its namesake, Dom Hemingway is exceedingly reluctant to shed its superficial cool guy veneer and speak to anything deeper until the movie is practically over. It hopes to shock its audience with a brassy protagonist who skirts by for a while owing to his devil-may-care attitude, but--like Dom--is forced to concede that maintaining such a front cannot be sustained.