MOVING PICTURES

'STEVE MCQUEEN'S 'WIDOWS' BRINGS A WOMAN'S TOUCH TO BELCOURT'S 'HEIST!' SERIES

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC

The opening of Widows (2018) reminds me of Michael Mann’s heist epic, Heat: we’re introduced to a group of criminal men who all occupy certain levels in the hierarchy of their gang, and their domestic lives with their partners and their children are contrasted alongside an action sequence that finds the men in a shootout leaving a crime scene. The gang reaches a rendezvous point where they switch vans, dragging a severely wounded comrade in tow. They attempt to exit through a large garage door that opens to reveal a phalanx of police cruisers. The coppers let the lead fly and the van explodes and flips over in a fireball.

It’s not a spoiler to spill the opening of a film called Widows by describing the deaths of a group of family men cons. What might be surprising is how British film director Steve McQueen marshals a few moments of well scripted characterizations, frenetic firepower, domestic realism and inspired editing to deliver one of the most subversive movie introduction scenes we’ve watched since Adam McKay’s underrated The Other Guys (2010).

That movie was about the inept, dull cops you never see in films about heroic police. Widows is about the wives we nearly always find just out of focus in the male-centric gangster genre – the floating embodiments of romantic and religious metaphors. McQueen drops viewers in the middle of one of those movies: all the drama and action sequences focus on the motivations of the men; Liam Neeson is obviously the leader of the gang and Jon Bernthal is seen to be the tough guy among the sidekicks. McQueen gives viewers Scarface Reservoir Connection, and then he blows up its gas tank.

In films like Hunger (2008) and Shame (2011), McQueen mined deep one-word titles/themes in stories about Irish Republican Army political prisoners, and a successful corporate executive struggling with sexual addiction, respectively. Widows’ one-word title is more subjective than thematic. If this movie had a thematic title it would be Retribution: Every character in the film is lashing out at real and perceived wrongs — social, economic, familial and personal.

This film is focused on the trio of wives whose lives crumble in various ways in the wake of their husbands’ van inferno: Linda (Michelle Rodriquez) discovers that her husband was drowning in gambling debts and she loses her fashion store. Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) turns to transactional dating with a wealthy man, and Veronica (Viola Davis) is threatened by people her husband Harry (Neeson) and his gang stole $2 million from. Veronica organizes the other ladies to do whatever it takes to provide for themselves and their families.

Widows also transcends the typical heist film due to all the characters and details around its edges. These elements combine to make Widows feel almost like a limited series sprawling across a detailed tapestry of gumption, regret, ambition and savagery. Like The Godfather, Widows manages to make the insular world of cops and criminals both grandiose and deadly real. Brian Tyree Henry is believably threatening as Jamal Manning, the gangster with political ambitions who wants Veronica to repay his $2 million dollars. Daniel Kaluuya plays his brooding and sadistic brother, Jatemme. Jamal is running in an election against Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), the son of Chicago political patriarch Tom Mulligan (Robert Duvall). The political and familial intrigues that McQueen weaves through his scenes of gangland violence, camaraderie and strategizing elevate this crime drama from a predictable pulp piece to a complex hall of mirrors where nothing is as it seems.

Widows screens Sunday, Sept. 19 as part of Belcourt Theatre’s repertory film series Heist! Visit www.belcourt.org for trailers, tickets and more

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.