While I was not a big fan of James Gray’s The Yards a number of years ago, I did, at the time, mildly liked the performances of two actors in that film, Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix. In 2007, there was a bit of reunion of the Yards talent, in the form of We Own The Night, which in my opinion was one of the best made pictures of last year. Between the time of the two pictures, the two leads have grown as actors, especially Joaquin Phoenix -who also gave an underrated performance in another 2007 film, Reservation Road- and this film also gives a surprise in Eva Mendes, as well.

The film is set in the late 80’s, but features characters who do not want to escape their younger days. Bobby Green (Phoenix) along with his girlfriend Amada (Mendes) chooses to ignore a growing segment of customers in his club, those being to be Russian mob enforcers. They will leave them alone, even though Green is put under some pressure to keep an eye on them by members of his (disowned) family, who are decorated police officers. While he will show up to awards ceremonies out of respect, he would just as soon leave such parties as quickly as he can. Tensions come higher when Green’s club is raided, and he is assaulted and arrested by one of the raiding officers. However, the mob enforcers-who were not present at the raid- do not know that the police officer leading the raid, Joseph Grusinsky (Wahlberg) is Green’s brother. Still, the Russian mob targets Joseph, unwittingly sending a chain of events that will cause Green to reflect on his lifestyle, and a inner guilt to drive him. Doing the right thing, however, comes at a price.

The writing of the character arcs in this film are top notch. I would kill to get my paws on a copy of this script. I never had a dull moment in this movie, but the two biggest surprises for me here was Eva Mendes, who is smoking hot as usual, but her character has something to offer than just an arm trophy. But that second surprise? Remember this name: Joaquin Baca-Asay. He’s not an actor- he’s the cinematographer. I *loved* the way the film was shot. I repeat. I **loved** the way the film was shot. Even a car chase in the rain-when one would think there was nothing new and exciting anymore with car chases- was filmed and edited with the right amount of suspense and action.

Great stuff. Great writing. Top notch acting. I loved this film. It’s going in my DVD collection. Now.

*****
We Own The Night
Starring: Eva Mendes, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Oleg Taktarov, and Robert Duvall,
Directed by James Gray