25th Hour

The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 3, ‘25th Hour’

Sean and Amanda return to continue their yearlong project of listing the 25 best movies of the 21st century so far. Today, they discuss Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, one of the most present-tense films ever made. They discuss its fascinating legacy as a somewhat under-discussed masterpiece, explain why Lee’s stylistic choices are deeply moving, and identify the impressive fricative tension in all of the movie’s ideas.

Friday night, Jack, Sharon and I watched the 25th Hour. [Note to self], I need to build a blog post of The Big Picture's list of the 25 Best Movies of the Century.

The 25th Hour is a 2002 drama film directed by Spike Lee. It is adapted by David Benioff from his 2001 debut novel The 25th Hour.

The film stars Edward Norton. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Brian Cox [Succession] have a supporting roles.

The film takes place over a single day. It follows Monty Brogan (Norton), a convicted drug dealer who has 24 hours of freedom left before he must report to prison to serve a seven-year sentence.

Terrified of what awaits him in prison and filled with regret, Monty spends his final day saying goodbye to his father (Cox), his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), and his two best friends: Jacob (Hoffman), a shy high school teacher, and Frank (Barry Pepper), a high-powered Wall Street trader.

It is widely regarded as one of the best films of the 2000s and is particularly famous for capturing the mood of New York City immediately following the September 11 attacks.

Although it is a little slow in a couple of spots, all three of us liked the movie. We listened to the Big Picture Podcast talking about the movie on the way to an early dinner on Saturday. A random note, Jesse Plemons has become Phil Seymour Hoffman; it seems like Plemons is now filling roles that would have been filled by Hoffman twenty years ago.