The Drop
Director: Michael R. Roskam
Starring: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini
106 mins; Class 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd
British actor Tom Hardy has amassed a pretty solid CV to date, with roles in the likes of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and RocknRolla (2008) early in his career, before coming to many people’s notice in director Christopher Nolan’s superb heist thriller Inception (2010).
More roles that displayed the actor’s versatility followed. His star will continue to rise inexorably thanks to his upcoming role in the reboot of the Mad Max franchise. But, in the meantime, Hardy can be seen in The Drop, a low-budget and thoroughly effective crime drama.
Hardy stars as taciturn bartender Bob Saginowski, running the bar for his employer and cousin Marv (James Gandolfini in his final performance).
Saginowski closes a blind eye to the ‘money drops’ that take place in the bar, a system through which gangsters channel their ill-gotten gains; he is a man who lives a quiet life and minds his own business.
Things change when the bar is the target of a robbery that goes wrong and the bar’s ruthless Chechen owners demand that the stolen money be replaced at all costs.
At around the same time, Saginowski bonds with a neighbour Nadia (Noomi Rapace) over a lost puppy. The events in both his work and private life soon collide in sudden and violent ways.
The Drop is based on a short story by Dennis Lehane, on whose novels the sublime movies Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone are based. The Drop features the writer’s trademark, blue-collar backgrounds, some flawed but always richly-drawn characters, and strong narratives about the characters and the struggles they face in their lives.
Truth be told, there is plenty that is familiar in the film’s set-up, yet Lehane’s story provides some slow-burning tension which persists until the final act, when the various plot strands come together.
Kudos also to the sure-handed direction of Belgian director Michael R. Roskam and the performance of the entire ensemble.
Richly-drawn characters and strong narratives
Roskam lets the story unfold at a steady pace and eschews unnecessary violence and showy action scenes to allow the characters to breathe.
Hardy’s Saginowski is as fascinating a character as any he has played before; his imposing physical presence a front for the sad and lonely man inside, a man who closed himself off from the world years before.
This complex character is the heart and soul of the film. Hardy’s performance is quite compelling as he slowly opens himself up not only to Nadia, who brings him out of his shell and gives us a peek of his softer side, but also to the violent realities of the world he inhabits, allowing a quiet yet seething anger to slowly break through.
Hardy is part of an ensemble of European actors who blend into the Brooklyn, blue-collar background with consummate ease. Rapace’s broken Nadia is the antithesis of Lisbeth Salander, the character that brought the actress international stardom.
But she embraces Nadia’s vulnerabilities and strengths with the same passion and creates a credible relationship with Saginowski while Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts is convincing as Nadia’s threatening ex-boyfriend.
The Drop was the last role Gandolfini played before his untimely death in June 2013. The actor may have often been cast as the gangster type yet, he takes no lazy shortcuts in creating this tired and slight paranoid Marv.
Marv is a man desperate to earn back the respect and fear he commanded before hard times forced him to sell his beloved bar. It is an understated and riveting performance that does the actor credit.