by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
With the desolate wasteland of January and February movie releases behind us, and the summer blockbuster season not yet having hit its stride, you can often find some movie gems hidden in this section of the calendar. These are rare films that not many people saw, but by the end of the year, you’ll go to bat for them, stating they were some of the under-seen treasures of the year. They’re works that stick with you. Here we have a new film by Graham Moore, the creative mind behind The Imitation Game, that’s a nuanced take on the gangster genre. A single location film with sharp editing, a smart script, and a strong leading performance by Mark Rylance that all adds up to make sure this film rises above its gimmick. From a distance, the fringe edges of this film suit may look like a hybrid between The Untouchables and Phantom Thread, yet not as strong as either of them. However, when you begin to pull on the strings you’ll find that The Outfit is still a rewarding and compelling character study about the corrosive sins of your past.
The Outfit takes place in Chicago during the mid-1950s. It centers around Leonard (Rylance), who actually goes by the nickname English. He is a cutter, not to be confused with a tailor, who designs, crafts and sells high quality fashionable suits for men. Making suits is his entire life. Unfortunately, there is a thorn in his side that distracts him from his perfectionist focus on fashion — the simple fact that his tailor shop is a drop point for the mob. That’s because the only people that can afford his luxury suits are the gangsters that run the local neighborhood. Although English is not keen on being a front for the mob, as he finds it personally distasteful, he has a very simple motto: you stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours. So when the gangsters make the drops, no one speaks a word to one another, and everything is fine. But one night things go off course when a couple of mob members take sanctuary in English’s shop after a shootout in the streets. This leads to a spider’s web of deceit and tension-filled moments that lead to many revelations about our characters. Only time will tell if English can make it through the night alive.
Moore both wrote the screenplay for The Outfit, and is making his directorial debut. Utilizing much of the same technique he mastered in his script for The Imitation Game, he is successful at building drama and tension throughout this film. There’s a solid understanding of this film’s lead character, his motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. There’s a lot of grace within the pacing of the script. Nothing feels rushed or forced. It builds momentum at just the right frequency so that all the tension feels properly elevated at the right moments. We can take the time to appreciate the crisp dialogue. It’s sharp and witty where it needs to be, offering a surprisingly amount of dry humor. But the script yields more than just fun jokes as it also offers a lot of conversational chess. There’s combative wordplay throughout most of this picture. It is fun to watch these characters spare and parry one another. While some of the narrative story beats might be a bit clichéd, the film is still overall written and directed in a competent fashion.
Given that this film is a crime drama taking place in a single location, a tailor’s shop, and it never deviates from that location, a lot of its compelling nature has to come from our performances. This is where, quite simply, the movie rises or falls based on Rylance. Unsurprisingly, Rylance is such a talent that he easily carries this film on his shoulders, which is, in fact, almost to its detriment, as scenes without his presence feel hollow. Luckily, there’s only a few of those. Though there are a few moments where it feels like Rylance is inadvertently channeling his performance of James Halliday, the autistic video game creator from Ready Player One, that feels out of place, for the most part he is on point, exactly where the film needs him to be. He is subservient to these terrifying gangster menaces, while simultaneously willing to stand up for himself in the face of insurmountable fear. At once he feels timid and self-assured. A simple moment where a gangster is shot and English is called upon to stitch up the gunshot wound demonstrates his temperament, cool-under-pressure attitude, and adaptable skill set. Plus, there’s enough subtlety in his foreshadowing to understand that there’s something greater going on underneath the surface of this character, even down to his method. Although he may not be Daniel Day-Lewis, it certainly appears that Rylance took his time to learn about fashion. He comes off as a convincing cutter who could’ve served on Savile Row in London. A great performance all around.
Though as great as Rylance may be in our lead position, the supporting cast around him feels mediocre at best by comparison. That’s not to say that anyone is outright bad, as I don’t believe that to be the case. But I certainly didn’t feel that anyone was doing anything that was actually elevating the film. Whether that was Zoey Deutch as the receptionist Mable, Johnny Flynn as the family outsider Francis, Dylan O’Brien as the hotheaded heir Richie, or Simon Russell Beale the Don, it all just felt fairly average. Passable. I did, however, really appreciate the technical elements of the film. Nothing flashy, but the production design felt authentic to ‘50s Chicago. The simple layout of the tailor’s shop felt lived in. Of course the costumes were just as sharp to match. It would’ve been a crime if they hadn’t, given the subject matter of the film. Even the simple score with the somber clarinet and the overall patient editing serves the movie well. And individual choices that feel like simple art direction or character development are well utilized, like Chekhov‘s snow globe and shears.
More than anything, I really enjoyed what The Outfit accomplished in terms of its dissection of a character. English is clearly a broken man in this film. He has buried the trauma of his past beneath his obsessive suit-making ways. But this movie delivers a smart illustration of how haunting your past mistakes can truly be. So much so, in fact, that the movie clearly takes a position that you can never outrun your past sins either. Your history will always come back to bite you, as you are magnetically drawn to the same type of people and situations that hindered you over and over again. It’s only in a moment of great resilience that you can break the chain, reinvent yourself, and start anew. The world will not get easier, better, for you out of nowhere. You have to make the world you want to be a part of, even if that means being temporarily destructive towards yourself in the meantime. There’s even a decent amount here about letting go of perfection. Your best laid plans will never come to pass; there will always be speed bumps in the road. It’s how we adjust to deal with these bumps that builds character.
I can already tell that The Outfit is going to linger with me in a good way. It will be one of those sneaky films that somehow still finds its way into the top 15 to 20% of films by the year’s end. Though it certainly won’t get the box office or audience recognition it deserves, The Outfit is a solid crime drama led by Rylance’s outstanding performance. It stands as a strong recommendation still in the early parts of this young year in film.
Score: 7/10
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