AFI Dallas Review: Living and Dying

What happens when a group of armed robbers suddenly finds the tables turned? In Jon Keeye's Living and Dying, which can perhaps best be described as Western-meets-heist-film-meets-thriller, three armed robbers take refuge in a café after their heist getaway, only to find themselves trapped with a pair of sociopathic killers. When the killers take the situation over and start killing hostages, it's up to the robbers to turn hero and save the day before anyone else gets hurt. One of the robbers is killed in the takeover, leaving Sam (Edward Furlong) and Nadia (Bai Ling) to figure out a way out of the mess.

Sam decides to sidle up to the bad guys, who are known in the local criminal circle as "the Blood Brothers." Karl (Curtis Wayne) is the smart one, relatively speaking, and Max (Trent Haaga)is the stupid follower; both of them are mean as rattlesnakes, with no regard for other people or human life in general. Fortunately for Sam, he used to do some work for Karl's brother, and that connection keeps Sam from getting a bullet in the head -- for now.

Instead, Karl recruits Sam (at gunpoint) to be the negotiator with the police. He instructs Sam not to let on that the situation has changed and the robbers are no longer in charge of things. Meanwhile, Detective Rick Devlin (Arnold Vasloo, who turned in a tremendous performance in 2004's excellent South African film Forgiveness) and his partner, Detective Catherine Pulliam (Yelda Reynaud) have other problems to deal with. Corrupt and wealthy local businessman Duca ( Tamer Karadagli), whose business was the one targeted by the robbers, has used his wealth and influence to shoehorn his way into the investigation, with the full approval of the Captain. Devlin and Pulliam have no choice but to cooperate with Duca, who informs them that he's involved the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the case, and it is being taken over by an ATF agent.

When Agent Lind (Michael Madsen) arrives, you can practically hear the batwing doors of the old saloon swinging as he saunters in decked out in fancy boots and slinging a shotgun. Loud and vociferous, Lind manages to piss off everyone in the office within two minutes of arriving, and promptly takes over the hostage negotiation from Devlin, who was just about to enact a plan to send a team in to end the situation before things get any worse. Things really heat up when it's revealed that the reason the ATF has an interest in the case is that one of the robbers is really an ATF undercover agent.

Living and Dying is sharply directed, and the dialogue, thankfully, is minimally expositional and serves as a much-needed break from the intense pace of the film. I'd be terribly remiss if I didn't mention the music; the film's composer, oddly, isn't listed, which is a shame, because the musical choices are almost a character in and of themselves. From spaghetti western to Eastern European folk music to Italian guitar, the musical elements are wildly diverse, and yet somehow it all works.

It's great to see Furlong back in action; seeing him in this film reminds me of how much I like him as and actor, and how I want to see more of him in smart films like this. Madson is a real treat in the film as well; few actors could pull off his loud-mouthed swagger without coming across as overdone, but Madsen manages quite well. He's bigger than life, but for his character and the film's larger-than-life, Western tone, it plays perfectly. You'll likely get a chance to see this film; as of the festival it already has distribution in Europe, and HBO Films has acquired it for North America for the fall, according to Keeyes at the post-show Q&A. You'll want to catch this one if you get a chance.