A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Outfit” (2022).
Another of my Australia-flight films, “The Outfit” is a gangland drama/thriller that completely passed me by when it came out in the UK in April. (I can only assume it had a very limited release.) But if so, that was a crime since it’s a small and claustrophobic cracker of a movie.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
We’re in 1956 Chicago and Leonard (Mark Rylance) is a cutter (“not a tailor… any fool can sew on buttons”) in his shop, aided by his attractive assistant Mabel (Zoey Deutch). One of his regular clients is local gangster Roy (Simon Russell Beale) and the shop is used by the mob as a ‘dropbox’ for payoffs etc. Leonard keeps his head down, “sees nothing” and goes about his work. But when one day communications arrive from a shady cross-mafia organisation called “The Outfit”, the peace of the gentlemen’s outfitters is suddenly shattered as mob violence descends.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Simon Russell Beale, Johnny Flynn, Dylan O’Brien, Nikki Amuka-Bird.
Directed by: Graham Moore.
Written by: Graham Moore & Johnathan McClain.
Twitter Handles: #TheOutfitMovie.
“The Outfit” Review:
Positives:
- Mark Rylance again proves what a class act he is. His calm, mannered performance is a joy to behold and he adds real presence to the whole thing. (Rylance IS actually a trained tailor: in an earlier life he worked on London’s Savile Row. #perfectcasting!) Zoey Deutch is also great in the supporting role: I note that she has picked up a British Independent Film Award (BIFA) nomination. Johnny Flynn, playing Roy’s ambitious right-hand heavy, assumes such a good American accent that it took me half the film to recognise it was him!
- In retrospect, this is obviously very much a low-budget ‘lockdown production’, with a small cast and a limited scope. But the clever multi-layered script, with its twists and turns, keeps you so engrossed that you don’t notice that. In fact, I didn’t notice that it is actually set in a single location (the two rooms of the shop). And although I note from the end-credits that it was actually filmed on a theatre stage, this never felt (unlike some similar films, like “Fences”) as if it was a “film of a play”. (Though I think it would make a crackingly good play for the London stage!)
- No spoilers, but it’s a credit to the script that I didn’t see the twists coming. It felt to me at times like Hitchcock’s famous claustrophobic one-take thriller “Rope”: and that’s a great compliment.
- There’s a quirky score by the great Alexander Desplat.
Negatives
- If I’m being picky, Mabel’s romance strikes you as a bit out of character and a convenient coincidence.
Summary Thoughts on “The Outfit”:
I love a film you enjoy that you had no expectations of. And this was one: a little gem of a thriller, well scripted and well cast with Rylance on top form.
Trailer for “The Outfit”:
The trailer is here: https://youtu.be/3UgJL23HxyU .
