Case Study: Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin

Institutional Information:

Director: Paul McGuigan
Release Date: 24 February 2006
Country where made: USA
Awards won: Best Film, Best Editing, Best actor (Josh Hartnett). 2006
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Certificate: 18

Production Company: Capitol Films

Audience Response:

User Comments:

"In the film noir tradition, but with the intense and graphic violence of the Lock Stock and Layer Cake genre, Slevin is really a caper movie, and frankly reminded me more of The Sting than anything else. It dances nimbly from grisly stomach-churning action to clever and light-hearted banter"

I agree with this comment, however I haven't seen The Sting, I like the way the film includes concepts from other genres, its an interesting mix.

External Review:

Phillip French, The Guardian:

Lucky Number Slevin is an artful confection, directed by Scottish filmmaker Paul McGuigan, best known for the superior British crime movie Gangster No 1. It's a revenge drama in which a seemingly innocent young man (Josh Hartnett) apparently becomes involved in a battle between two rival New York gangsters, the Boss (Morgan Freeman) and the Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), who live across the road from each other in identical penthouses.

I say 'apparently' because nothing in this slick movie is as it appears. The ingenious plot is borrowed from The Sting. Like The Usual Suspects, there are deliberately misleading flashbacks. The dialogue is an odd mixture of Runyon, Pinter and Mamet. From Tarantino comes the discussion of earlier movies (e.g. the Bond films, North by Northwest), an affinity further signalled by the casting of two actors whose careers Tarantino helped revive - Bruce Willis (suave hit man) and Robert Forster (dogged cop). It's not unenjoyable.

User Ratings:

Again, with this film, there was no distinct difference in the male/female ratings. Males rated it at an average of 7.9 and females 8.0. This is quite suprising, as stereotypically, more men would have been expected to enjoy the film, as it has action in it, however I think with Josh Hartnett playing the lead role, this attracted a larger female audience. It was also rated higher by people aged under 18, and aged 18-29. This could be because the film isn't as relevant to the older generation or they just don't find it as entertaining.

Codes and Conventions:

The location of this mise en scene, is outside a penthouse building in the city. It is a public place, in quite an unglamourous, dirty setting,