Lee Struggles With Scope, Character in '25th Hour'

"25th Hour"

Director Spike Lee, for better or worse, has made most of his professional name by cinematically dissecting race relations on film. Easy enough, right?

For Lee, yes.

With his new film "25th Hour," he tries to dissect a man and a city at once. Easy enough, right?

Based on this film, not even for Lee.

The film follows the last day of freedom for Brooklyn drug dealer Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) before he reports for a seven-year prison sentence. His experience is presented through the lens of post-Sept. 11 New York -- the surrounding characters who occupy his life are representations of the city in one fashion or another.

Photographer Rodrigo Prieto ("8 Mile") brilliantly gives the metropolis the look of a ghostly castle of dust and torn flags.

The Big Apple itself becomes a character as Lee ambitiously -- yet cryptically -- attempts to parallel his grief-stricken, volatile protagonist with his grief-stricken, fragile setting.

Brogan's day is spent in tense interaction with his concerned Puerto Rican girlfriend, Naturelle (a shimmering Rosario Dawson), his stoic Irish father, James (Brian Cox), and his two childhood friends, Wall Street trader Francis (Barry Pepper) and Jewish prep school teacher Jakob (an effectively geeky Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Brogan's inner turmoil is revealed in a series of vivid flashbacks as he reflects on his life leading up to his conviction. This includes his first meeting with Naturelle, who he suspects might have tipped off the feds.

This suspicion is planted in his mind by his cartoonish Russian partner Kostya (a surprisingly able Tony Siragusa of former NFL fame).

The concerns of Brogan's friends come to a head at an all-night "going away" bash in a posh nightclub. So does the provocative yet ineffectual subplot involving Jakob and his repressed infatuation with his student Mary (Anna Paquin).

Paquin is repulsive yet captivating as a vacuous Lolita immersed in the glitz of New York life. The viewer can feel Jakob's tortured nerves as he tries to resist his temptation and save his job.

"25th Hour" serves as middle ground for Norton, not as milquetoast as the narrator in "Fight Club" or as explosive as Derek in "American History X." The viewer never gets the sense that Brogan is sorry for the addictions he has fed but only for his resulting incarceration.

Brogan's story is best told through the supporting cast -- it helps that Lee was able to assemble such an excellent ensemble.

But the film falters when Lee tries to fuse the wounded confidence of the city with Brogan's own torment. The assumption to be made is that the city itself is still haunted by its own shock, but this sentiment might be lost for non-New Yorkers.

"25th Hour" tries to tell an emotionally involved story framed in a complex setting, one with its own story. The problem is that neither element is totally effective, especially when both are juxtaposed with each other.

Plot isn't everything, but when a film such as "25th Hour" attempts to forgo it in favor of observation, the viewer probably will need more meat than this movie provides.

Or maybe an extra hour.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.