I love this city in the morning before she's brushed her teeth.

God’s Pocket
John Slattery 2014 USA
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Richard Jenkins, Eddie Marsan, Caleb Landry Jones, Joyce Van Patten, Molly Price

God's Pocket, the directorial feature debut of Mad Men's John Slattery, has found itself at the centre of an unfortunate dilemma. On the one paw its leading man, an on-form Philip Seymour Hoffman, is one of its main strengths, dragging his feet along the streets of small-town Philadelphia (where everybody knows your name and who's sleeping with your wife) burdened by flop sweat, a gut and a gait that constantly looks like he's walking to his death, his hands like juice extractors. On the other Hoffman's sudden death in February and the fact that this was his penultimate performance has eclipsed almost everything else the film has to offer and in years to come it's likely only to be spoken of in terms of its position in his back catalogue. It's a real shame because there's an awful lot to like. In its mix of the blackly comic and the tragic and its eternally unlucky underdog the script could have come straight from a Coen Brothers movie and while not at their level (few things are) it's still full of winning scenes and characters brimming with hidden depths, ambition and resignation. The plot concerns Mickey Scarpato, a part-time meat salesman and small-time criminal, born an outsider but now accepted in his blue-collar neighbourhood because he's married beautiful local girl Jeannie. His life isn't perfect but he counts himself lucky and relatively happy until one day his worthless stepson is murdered and his world rapidly falls apart. The killing is logged as an accident but Jeannie rightly suspects a cover-up, devastated even if her boy was someone only a mother could love. At first look he seems too feckless to get into any real trouble, Travis Bickle without a spine, but his hot-air and hatred annoys the wrong pipe-wielding resident and things only spiral downwards from there. On the acting front Hoffman is joined by John Turturro, Richard Jenkins (is there a more regularly wasted actor in modern American cinema?), Joyce Van Patten, Eddie Marsan and Domenick Lombardozzi and most are every bit as good as you'd expect with Van Patten particularly standing out as Turturro's feisty, gun-toting aunt and Marsan impressing as hot-tempered undertaker Smilin' Jack Moran (although his grin consistently slips into a sneer), spilling beer on the corpse only for Hoffman to wave him off and tell him it'll be an Irish funeral anyway. The real sleeper though is Christina Hendricks as Jeannie, starting out as stricken before fighting not to crumble, her grief hidden behind disbelieving eyes and the smallest quiver of her lip. Despite being given little else to do other than tolerate and accept the advances of sleazy men she's never been better or more affecting. Jenkins too battles against the Bukowski knockoff he's been handed but manages to make the best of talking in full sentences and knocking back a different drink every time he appears. Likewise Slattery's direction is assured even if he occasionally falls down in other areas (I never want to see a sleeping character covered with a bloody blanket again) and, as with the Coen siblings, he skilfully combines brutal violence, slapstick, melancholy and wit. In an ideal world the Hoffman link would simply lead to more people seeing the film but I fear that's a naïve hope. It's their loss however because this pocket, as its name suggests, has terrific depths.

Note from the editor: This is the first of several reviews of films I've seen as part of my wonderful local cinema's film festival. As ever their bounties are magnificent and you should all check out their website, their program and everything else they're offering. If you're based in the south of England run to them forthwith, if you live elsewhere visit and spend a few days. They're among the most knowledgeable, dedicated and friendliest film folks I know. Support cinema as it supports us all. Thank you and goodnight. New Park Cinema