Film review: The Drop The depth of anonymity

MANILA, Philippines - For those who bemoan how so many movies today rely on sensationalistic “from-out-of-nowhere” plot devices, or complain how special effects and big-budget production values have to make the difference, Fox Searchlight’s

The Drop is the perfect antidote. For here is a character study of a film that relies on pure storytelling and rewards the viewer for absorbing the initial deliberate and measured pace with an organic reveal that turns the seemingly paint by numbers crime thriller into something much darker and altogether rewarding.

Directed by Michael Roskam, the European director who gave us the 2012 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film Bullhead, The Drop stars one of today’s brightest young actors, Tom Hardy, along with Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts and the late James Gandolfini. Based on a Dennis Lehane short story (he wrote Mystic River), The Drop takes us away from Lehane’s Boston and brings us to the world of small crime in Brooklyn.

The title refers to any neighborhood bar that the local crime bosses turn into the “deposit box” for their illegal activities. In this case, it’s Cousin Marv’s Bar, with Gandolfini as Marv, and Hardy playing Bob, a bartender and Marv’s rather slow and seemingly dim-witted cousin.

The plot thickens when the bar is robbed by two petty crooks, and when Bob saves a maimed puppy found in a garbage can outside the house of Noomi’s character. Now owned by a Chechin syndicate, the bar is Marv’s refuge for maintaining status in the community, while Bob looks to be Marv’s charity case of an employee. And that’s enough of a premise to reveal, as serious film lovers will love how from the basic set-up, we are whisked away by the solid story to a journey into the darker side of innocuous, anonymous characters and how they survive in the world of “favors owed” and debts piling up.

While Gandolfini is impressive as the desperate, tightly-wound Marv, the film is another testament to the acting prowess of Hardy. He may not be a household name, but the British actor has amassed an enviable filmography. Riordan in Warrior, Eames in Inception, handsome Bob in RocknRolla, Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and the lead character in Locke (where he’s on camera throughout the whole film, driving and talking on his mobile phone) — here in The Drop, he’s more than unforgettable as the mentally-challenged “nice guy” bartender with secrets of his own. It’s great how Hardy immerses himself in the character, an American of Polish extraction, just trying to survive by working for his cousin.

Hardy’s own grasp at true stardom may come soon as he’s the title character in the forthcoming Mad Max reboot. But for now, savor his uncanny performance in The Drop. It may be a “small film,” but I was floored by how the film rolls out like a primer for film students on how to tell a story in an organic manner — with few scenes wasted, and maintaining shafts of dark humor, while building up to something surprising yet consistent with all that has preceded it.