Live By Night

“I went away a soldier, I came home an outlaw”. This statements, spoken by Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) sets the tone of things to come in this homage to the good old gangster flick – in this case as based on Dennis Lehanes’ novel. Affleck not only stars but wrote the screenplay, produced (with a little help from fellow A-list Star Leonardo DiCaprio) and directed this movie, which has performed rather disappointingly at the box office. To put it upfront, it’s nowhere near as disappointing as some critics would have us believe though yes, it does have its flaws.

Perhaps the biggest flaw is the fact that for a story set during American’s prohibition era, the entire affair simply looks too glossy… but we shall come to that later.
Affleck plays Joe Coughlin who, after a traumatising time at the trenches of the First World War, is adamant to create his own rules in 1926 Boston. A lad of Irish descent (no trace of ‘Oirish’ in Affleck’s well-spoken persona), he is the prodigal son of local police captain Thomas Coughlin (Brendan Gleeson) and somehow we know that the two will inevitably be at loggerheads. As indeed they are, primarily over Joe’s romantic involvement with gangster moll Emma Gould (an almost unrecognisable Sienna Miller delivering a terrific Irish accent!) who happens to be the mistress of seriously bad gangster boss Albert White (Robert Glenister). Oh dear! You can’t blame Thomas for advising his son against his relationship with Emma… then again, you can’t blame Joe for not listening to dad. And yes, to make matters worse Joe already has a bit of a criminal record. But worse is yet to come and it comes quickly when Italian Mafia boss Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone) gets wind of the affair and blackmails Joe into killing his arch rival White. Joe, who is a criminal with a conscience, refuses and this is the first incidence where his conscience shall be his undoing…

Instead of agreeing to bump off White he decides to do a runner and flee with Emma to California. But to do so he needs money and thus he and his close partner Dion Bartolo (Chris Messina) decide to rob a bank. Suffice to say it all goes terribly wrong and after a mighty car chase three police officers are dead. Nonetheless Joe intends on running away with Emma, but the double-crossing colleen lures him into a trap set by White – the humiliation of it all! Ironically it’s the arriving police who save Joe’s life, who otherwise would have been kicked to death by White and his accomplices. Thanks to the high-ranking influence of dad Thomas, who blackmails Chief Inspector Bondurant (Clark Gregg) into ‘softening’ the sentence, Joe gets a mere three years in the slammer as opposed to the electric chair. Thomas also informs his son that apparently, Emma died during a police pursuit. As it so happens, Thomas dies two weeks before Joe’s release from prison, upon which the latter immediately vows revenge against White and joins forces with Pescatore, who promptly recruits him to run an illegal rum empire in sunny Tampa, Florida – naturally, White has also set his eyes in the empire. Joe and his old partner Dion form a strong bond once again to ‘look after business’.

Enter samba and salsa dancers, idyllic white-washed beaches and breath-taking coastlines… rarely has the prohibition era looked so enticing! Even the poor (and illegal) Cuban factory workers rolling cigars have a smile on their face. At first, things seem to go smooth and Joe not only has a ‘solid understanding’ with local Cuban businessman Corrales but falls in love with his sister Graciela (Zoe Saldana) and before you can say ‘Cuba Libre’ they are married. Always thinking ahead, Joe cleverly befriends local Sheriff Figgis (Chris Cooper), whose attractive daughter Loretta (Elle Fanning) is on her way to Hollywood to become an actress (we learn that Joe has a brother who works as a scriptwriter in Hollywood). Unfortunately, Loretta never makes it to Hollywood but ends up a heroin-addict and prostitute en route to LA, with Joe promising her shattered father Sheriff Figgis to take care of things. But Joe, too, gets his share of troubles when he encounters the vicious R.D. Pruitt (Matthew Maher), Figgi’s brother-in-law and a member of the Ku Klux Klan who doesn’t take kindly to the fact that Joe is married to a ‘woman of colour’ (actually, he repeatedly uses the ‘N’ word). After several attacks against black members of the community and Latino members as well (for to the KKK they are all the same vermin) Joe and his helpers manage to kill Pruitt and some other Klan members. Some time later, the prohibition comes to an end and realising the rum empire is about to crumble, Pescado instead plans of investing in narcotics and prostitution. Once again, his conscience gets the better of Joe who instead proposes to build a legal casino in the area. Unfortunately his plans are hampered by Loretta, who by now has become a devout Christian following her father’s cruel punishment. Thanks to her traveling preacher shows she soon convinces the locals that a casino would be nothing but sinful and against the will of God. The government listens and refuse to legalise gambling, effectively putting an end to Joe’s casino plans. Undeterred he still won’t invest in narcotics and prostitution, incurring the almighty wrath of Pescatore… and by deciding to go against the grain he seals the tragic fate not only for himself but for several others…

Affleck, polished demeanor aside, is great in the role of Joey and the same can be said of his co-stars, in particular Robert Glenister as the menacing gangster boss White and Elle Fanning as the fallen woman who sees the ultimate redemption only by way of suicide. It’s somewhat of a shame that Sienna Miller’s character doesn’t take up more screen time for her character is great to watch, then again, the script can only go by what the novel dictates. Zoe Saldana as ‘Graciela Corrales’ makes the best of what her part offers (which is not all that much), and Matthew Maher as KKK member Pruit is evil personified!
Live By Night is an engaging and come to think of it quite complex story whose sub-plots are never fully explored, neither are some of the key characters who all could be more fleshed out. Perhaps such complex affair isn’t the right kind of material to cram into 130 minutes running time but it still offers plenty of thrills.