The Outfit

An unexpected gem and a very nice surprise. The Outfit is a film that came along with happy reviews from critics and audiences alike. I didn't really want to get into it, but I did well to give it a chance, because you hardly see old-fashioned filmmaking of this quality these days. The Outfit is an intimate conversational gangster film set in one place, over one night, with few characters, but it works well. Mark Rylance is absolutely perfect as an elderly gentleman who has life experience to burn, and I was rooting for him tremendously. Zoey Deutch and Dylan O'Brien are also a very good, and the rest of the cast do their thing here. The film has a great script to fall back on with excellent dialogue, wisecracks, quotes and plenty of plot surprises and twists – I wasn’t expecting so many twists. Just when you think it's over, there's another twist and then two more! It doesn't feel overwrought but smart and classy, and manages to play nicely with the viewer throughout – you can't guess how it will all turn out until the last moment. The whole film also has a decent atmosphere and can be uncomfortably suspenseful, and in a few scenes even nicely edgy (tailor's scissors stuck in a throat!). The film could also work as a stage play. I'm absolutely blown away, it's rare that genre films like this grab me by the heart like this, but this is really proper gentlemanly quality. Perfection is a necessary goal precisely because it is unattainable. If you don't strive for perfection, you'll never create anything great, and yet true perfection is impossible. Story 5/5. Action 2/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 5/5. 8/10. (20/04/2022)

Somehow I can't believe the script isn’t based on a very, very, very good theatre play, because that's what it feels like. The whole film takes place in a tailor's shop, in his salon and in his workshop. The dialogue is a joy to listen to and the performances are a joy to watch, especially when the filmmakers know exactly when to surprise and when to thrill (one can't help but notice the reference to Hitchcock's Rope). And they count on the viewer to discover things for themselves. Mark Rylance is excellent in the lead role and once again I loved Alexandre Desplat's music. Outfit is not a tentpole film, it’s a brilliant one. (10/05/2023)