Direction: Graham Moore
Country: USA
Graham Moore, the award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game (2014), makes his directorial debut with The Outfit, a diverting Hitchcockian picture that packs a gut-level wallop in the name of entertainment. This atmospheric crime thriller set in 1956 Chicago is tailored like a classic, relying on sharp and quick story turns to prevent you from dwelling on any possible inconsistency.
At the center of the narrative is Leonard (Mark Rylance), a middle-aged English tailor who is somehow involved with the Chicago organized crime as he lets the men of Roy Boyle (Simon Russell Beale), a powerful crime kingpin, use his store both as a refuge and a point of communication. One night, Roy’s son, Richie Boyle (Dylan O'Brien), and his dubious associate, Francis (Johnny Flynn), have a misunderstanding about a tape that uncovers a snitch inside their gang. Blood is shed, and Leonard is forced to cover up the murderer. This submissive and meek man is also opaque and calculative. Always listening and barely talking, he has to find a way to save himself and his beloved receptionist, Mable (Zoey Deutch), from a bigger imbroglio.
Although I wish that very last section wouldn’t exist, the film’s controlled cynicism quietly penetrated my mind, leaving a good mark. Rylance (Bridge of Spies, 2015; The BFG, 2016) is excellent, and Flynn (Beast, 2017; Emma, 2020) makes for a truly insidious villain.
