It’s so very rare that we have the pleasure of watching a real flawless movie, but The Outfit is as near perfect as it gets. It’s the directing debut of Brit screenwriter Academy Award winner Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) and stars Brit Academy Award winner ….. and one of the greatest actors of his generation …. Mark Rylance. That’s Sir Mark to you since HM knighted him in 2017.
Rylance plays Leonard ….. known as ‘English’ to most people, especially all the Chicago mobsters he now makes suits for. He left London’s Saville Row the home of the world’s finest tailoring establishments, after a fatal fire in which he lost both his wife and young daughter. How he ended up in Chicago to start a new life is never totally clear, but once his new tailoring shop is discovered by a mob boss Roy (Simon Russell Beale) his new future is assured.
‘English’ likes to do things the proper way …… like how he insists he is a fully trained Cutter and not a Tailor even though the difference seems to escape most people he tells.
The action of the film all occurs over 24 hours and is completely set in Leonard’s shop which sees a constant flow of traffic of mobsters who have also taken the liberty of setting up a dropbox in the back. Many just walk in to put envelopes of protection payments into the box that fills up very quickly.
It’s the 1950’s and mob boss Roy runs a tight ship locally and has very anxiously applied for membership in the elite criminal organization known as The Outfit, which sometimes leaves messages for him in the box. His underlings Richie (Dylan O’Brien) and Francis (Johnny Flynn), in turn, are anxious to keep in his good favor, even it means selling each other out. Do crooks ever play fair?
Moore starts his film noir drama at a slow pace but that is soon replaced by a tension-packed thriller that has you fixed rigidly to the edge of your seat. No spoilers here BUT what we will say is there is no way that one can guess how any of it will pan out .
Rylance’s finely nuanced performance is so very magnetic and such a sheer joy to watch ….. maybe it helps that it seems like the proceedings seem likes stage play at times, and this is really where his expertise lies. He is also not alone as all the small cast are excellent, especially Russell Beale and Dylan O’Brien
Totally Unmissable
(PS From Focus Features and now in US movie theaters)
Labels: 2022, Mark Rylance, review, The Outfit
