Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a high-living broker with an expensive drug habit and fantasies of escape, plots the "perfect crime," robbing a mom-and-pop jewelry store in a suburban strip mall that happens to be owned by his parents (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris). He pressures his younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke), a nervous bundle of insecurity, to execute the heist. The film shifts backward and forward from the deed, following the trajectories of the brothers and the father and the bystanders churned up by their drama, but at the heart of this crime-gone-wrong thriller is the lacerating drama of a family eating itself raw. Director Sidney Lumet digs deep into the tawdry souls, peeling back the layers of arrogance and anger and self-delusion until all that's left is fury and fear and hate. Marisa Tomei is beautiful as Andy's frustrated wife, Amy Ryan is Hank's exasperated ex-wife, and Michael Shannon and Brian F. O'Byrne co-star.

The 24-minute "Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made" is an intelligent and illuminating look at how a director works, both in terms of creative approach and the practical mechanics of filmmaking. The commentary by Lumet with actors Hoffman and Hawke is a real master class of a conversation about filmmaking and film acting. They ask probing questions of one another, compare notes and discuss technique, and extol the talents of co-star Tomei. And then they go silent during Tomei's major topless scene. Also available in Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.