The Outfit

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source: The Outfit

First off, I didn't hate this movie but anything above a 6 is questionable. It felt like an ending searching for a story line to get it there. Mark Rylance acting was great to watch, the rest of the cast acted to support his character and were weak in doing so. The mobsters were unrealistic and didn't convince me that they would believe everything a tailor, regardless of of how good he is, told them. And when he stuttered around telling the boss that his son was killed by one of his own people while the killer held a gun to the girls (Zoey Deutch) head in full view without question was odd and never challenged. To get something else out of the way, he was a tailor not just a cutter. A cutter fits, measures the customer and cuts the cloth. The tailor sews and styles the suit. He did both, this is a tailor's job. So that fell flat and sounded disingenuous every time he corrected them. For the receptionist to pick up the story the tailor was telling and continue it also felt like manipulated writing and came across as shallow and lazy story telling. Many of the twists were unsurprising and not needed. The last 10 minutes should have been cut. Getting stabbed by a tailors shears that deep in the neck would and should have been the end. Not even sure why he burned his shop down. I gave it a 6 for the same reason others gave it a 8 or 9, I'm starving for half decent movies that aren't centred around super powers, magic or a cartoon. Just good old fashioned clever story telling. This should have been that movie, it wasn't.

Greetings again from the darkness. Graham Moore won an Oscar for his screenplay on Alan Turing's life in THE IMITATION GAME (2014). Now he has directed his first feature film, one he co-wrote with Johnathan McClain. The final product is a bit unusual in that it takes place almost entirely in one spot ... a tailor's shop ... and features only a handful of characters. It's a film that would transition easily to the stage for live performances. Mark Rylance (Oscar winner for BRIDGE OF SPIES, 2015) excels here as Leonard, a Savile Row-trained tailor now working his craft in his own shop in 1956 Chicago. His path from London to the windy city is a bit murky, but we immediately take note of Leonard's calm and elegant presence accompanied by his soothing voice. Rylance uses that voice as narrator to explain the intricacies involved with creating a man's suit, and the importance of reading the man prior to utilizing the 4 fabrics and 38 pieces that make-up the outfit. Leonard is also protective of Mable (Zoey Deutch, ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP, 2019), his assistant who dreams of traveling the globe. An early montage shows us how the mob utilizes Leonard's shop for drops, and trusts him due to his 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' demeanor. Leonard is one cool dude, and it's obvious we (and the mob) are underestimating him ... but we can't quite figure out why or by how much. One crazy night changes everything. Richie (Dylan O'Brien, THE MAZE RUNNER franchise) is brought into the tailor shop after being shot by a rival gang ambush. He's accompanied by Francis (Johnny Flynn, EMMA., 2020), and the dynamics between these two is quite interesting. Richie is the son of the Boyle family patriarch and has been seeing Mable on the side, while Francis is the favored employee after saving Roy Boyle (Simon Russell Beale) by taking gun fire. Richie is a whiny, spoiled wannabe tough guy, while Francis is volatile and constantly sneering. What follows is a bit Hitchcockian. We have plot twists, murder, backstabbing, danger, and surprises. When it's discovered the Boyle family has a rat that is feeding details to the rival cross-town gang and the FBI, things get tense thanks partially to a MacGuffin audio tape. It all leads to confrontations in the shop, and some nice scene-chewing from Simon Russell Beale and Nikki Amuka-Bird as the leader of the rival gang. An elaborate plan by one of the characters is a pleasant surprise (to us, not the others). As Leonard points out on a couple of occasions, he's a "cutter", not a tailor - a distinction he takes as seriously as his skill with shears. The film's title has double meaning: the suits Leonard crafts, and the national syndicate that involves the Boyle family. Most of this we've seen before, but it's Rylance's portrayal of Leonard that offers a different look and feel. Fans of deceptive thrillers will find some joy here. Opens in theaters on March 18, 2022.

"Anyone can be tailor." Leonard (Mark Rylance) Although sometimes I can't tell if I love film more than theater, with The Outfit I found a film that satisfies both affections. Writer-director Grahame Moore brings a Hitchcock frame of mind with one dominant location, an atelier holding no more than four or five characters, just like a theater stage, and a sense of foreboding coming from history and the characters themselves, just like the modern psychological thrillers do. Just watch out for those scissors-Hitch would love the touch. Underneath the simple set is a rumbling of sin as the meek tailor, Leonard, contends with three mobs threatening him and his secretary, Mable (Zoey Deutch). He is required to stitch around those who want to kill each other and destroy his business, with different crooks coming in the front door intent on finding a tape that allegedly would send them to jail. The joy of this neo-noir thriller is the suspense that Hitchcock virtually patented because his non-mob characters are seemingly innocent types, and his sinners not quite in control of their ambitions. What Hitch and other thriller directors like Moore want is to show the vulnerability of the common citizen and the weaknesses of the seasoned mobsters. Although it's up to Leonard, small haberdashery owner in Chicago, to protect his shop, he also, in a narcotic-like voice over, explains the allegorical implications of his cutting and sewing. For instance, he is not a tailor but rather a cutter. The former artless, the latter a professional trained for years on London's iconic Saville Row. No recent film has surpassed The Outfit's ability to reveal the wickedness of humanity and its adaptability while supplying a dose of old-time noir. Delight in the spare set, the super acting, and the innumerable closeups that do as much to reveal character as the uncomplicated, Pinter-like dialogue. Although this tidy feature, similar to Leonard in its meticulous revelation of character and motive, seems suited to streaming, it is a euphoric experience on the big screen as the spare audiences can be enveloped by the powerful characters and story, in a setting that puts all in a dynamic room with mystery aplenty.

Like a stack of silk handkerchiefs if the bottom of the pile isn't folded perfectly the rest will fall over in time. So it is with this movie. A huge plot hole at the beginning causes the narrative to fail. A strong lead role from Mark Rylance isn't matched from his supporting cast, with the notable exception of Johnny Flynn who is very convincing as the hired muscle with a few too many brains for his own good. This is basically a stage play shot for the screen, everything takes place in one location, a tailor shop in 1950s Chicago. Players appear and leave in a theatrical manner but there is no sense of activities outside of that space. We are kept waiting for the arrival of the Big Boss but when he arrives he is the little panzy from Penney Dreadful, not an actor with gravitas like Christopher Walken, Bruce Dern or even Garry Oldman. Major letdown. The ending with the obligatory diversity hires is a samp quin. So the person pulling the strings is a black woman immigrant? Stunning and brave I'm sure. Really a mist opportunity as there is a good movie in here somewhere. But this isn't it.

Leonard Burley (Mark Rylance) left London and opened up a shop making fine suits in Chicago as the film opens in 1956. The back room of the shop has a drop box used by the Boyle mob to collect money and pass along messages. The La Fontaines are a rival gang. Leonard's receptionist (Zoey Deutch daughter of Lea Thompson and Howard the Deutch) is the girlfriend of the mob boss's son. All the action takes place in the shop, making this an excellent play. I loved the writing which twists things away from the norm of Hollywood predictability. Enjoyable film. Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

I am a massive fan of single location movies. "Identity" or "Death And The Maiden" come to mind. The conceit typically makes the moviemakers get really clever with the use of space. But if you've seen enough movies about mild manner characters with simmering dark pasts, you'll see a lot of this coming from a mile out. Which will leave you wondering "why was the movie even made?" The writer/director is Graham Moore, who was most likely given this simple feature to make to show he can bridge his career into directing. This is a nice little flick that like the Wachowskis who made "Bound" means he can do something bigger. Perhaps not "The Matrix" but he will segue this into something much larger. The story is of a tailor...er cutter named Leonard Burling (Mark Rylance), a quiet Englishman who constructs the most exquisite suits in Chicago. We know this because of the way he speaks reverentially about his craft. His precision is that of a car engineer carving out clean lines, attention to detail, and near obsessive nature in which he narrates the work he is doing. It also illustrates the connection he makes between that and the people who wear the suits he makes. He is assisted by a very street tough girl, Mabel (Zoey Deutch) from the neighborhood who has long history with the block, enough to see that it has fallen to the scum of society. That doesn't stop her from dating the son of a very awful mob boss who has his eyes set on being included in a national network of other criminal scum. Leonard's store is being used as a drop off spot for communications between that interconnect villainy (the days before the Dark Web). Unfortunately, the local mob discover that there is a rat in their midst, and a tape that was discovered in the box contains the whereabouts and, therefore, identity of the snitch. There is some mob infighting and slowly, they begin to turn on one another. The movie itself, while expertly designed fails at the worst part possible...the reveal. It's no secret that still waters are going to run deep. And we are handed brief glimpses of the darkness within. Though, the frustrating part is having to wait for the pot to boil, it is also a grind to watch Mark Rylance savor his deadpan English darkness. Even when he is expressing any emotion. The audience will wonder if the man isn't brain dead at some points. Leonard is treated very poorly by the mob guys, but yet he remains still and silent...big clue he is about to get ugly. But that time never happens. Well, it kind of does, but by then, it comes off as very unsatisfying and exhausting. Now, going in, I knew there was going to be that titular scene of his love of making suits. This clearly had that in mind. Also, an Academy Award writer isn't going to slack on the details. However fascinating it is to see the making of a suit and the care and patience it takes to craft it, it is VERY tedious to sit through. At a certain point we want to scream "we get it, you did your research!" But that was a tough line to skate. Because it is filler to a rather empty plot throughout. I found myself disinterested in the why or how or whats and found myself just wanting it to have some tension. Again, if you've seen the tricks of how to raise the anxiety of a situation, none of this will come as a surprise. To me, a very lackluster endeavor, but above average for the care it took to attempt it.