Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 11, 1992 TAG: 9201110302
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CONFLICTING LOYALTIES IN MAMET'S `HOMICIDE'
Playwright-turned-filmmaker David Mamet and Joe Mantegna, his favorite actor, have again joined forces in "Homicide."The result is a typically convoluted work from Mamet, rich in dark ironies, misleading appearances and conflicted loyalties.
Mantegna plays homicide detective Robert Gold, a tough cop who has lost touch with his Jewish origins. His job and his associates - particularly his partner, played by William H. Macy - provide his only support system. To combat departmental prejudices, Gold has denied his Jewishness. Despite this, Gold has his own prejudices. His department is made up of a diversity of officers and each comes in for his or her share of casually flung epithets. It's a way of life.
As the movie opens, Gold is crucial to a case involving a cop killer. But on his way to a showdown, he stumbles onto another crime scene. An elderly Jewish woman, the proprietor of a ghetto novelty store, has been murdered. Gold is assigned the case.
At first resistant, Gold quickly begins to sense something more complex than he originally suspected. Clues point to a conspiracy, particularly when he learns that the old woman was involved in gun running during the post-World War II movement to create the Jewish state of Israel out of British-ruled Palestine. In the process, he rediscovers his Jewishness and betrays his policeman's code.
This is a twisted tale of betrayal on many levels, of good intentions gone bad and a detective fallen victim to his own faulty process of detection. Evil, Gold finds out, is not necessarily what you want it to be and as a cop he should have known better all along.
Mantegna is a compelling actor. Isolated and driven, he's a man who says he doesn't want to end evil because he would be out of a job. In Mamet's world, the job has replaced religion and heritage and evil is never convenient.
Mamet's writing is spare and rhythmic. It's street-smart and stylized and this is reflected in the movie's closed-in and shadowy look. Sometimes, Mamet's intentions get in the way of logic - they're more stage driven than cinematic.
But "Homicide" lingers after leaving the theater.
`Homicide':***: A Triumph release at the Grandin (345-6377). Rated R for violence and language; 110 min.