We Own the Night

In 1988 Brooklyn, a nightclub operator (Joaquin Phoenix) finds himself on the other side of the law from his brother (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall), both cops out to crack down on the drug traffic through his club. Writer-director James Gray’s story is familiar—probably too familiar for its own good—but he knows how to give it startling, vibrant life. Gray gets under the surface of the clichés and gives them a rough beauty that makes them look emotionally fresh, even as we recognize them from other movies and TV shows. He can do the same thing with actors—Wahlberg, Phoenix and Duvall could probably play these parts in their sleep, but they don’t. Their family squabbles carry a sense of an ongoing story, as if Gray is catching part of a quarrel that’s erupted before.