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The Outfit (2022 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Outfit' is a 2022 American psychological crime drama thriller film directed by Graham Moore in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Moore and Johnathan McClain. The film stars an ensemble cast including Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Johnny Flynn, Dylan O'Brien, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Simon Russell Beale. Rylance plays an English tailor, or, as he prefers to be called, a "cutter", in Chicago whose primary customers are a family of vicious gangsters. The film premiered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2022, and released in the United States on March 18, 2022, by Focus Features, to positive reviews.
Plot
In 1956 Chicago, Leonard Burling is an English cutter who runs a shop in a neighborhood controlled by Irish Mob boss Roy Boyle. Boyle's son and second-in-command, Ritchie, and his chief enforcer, Francis, use Burling's shop as a stash house for dirty money; Burling tolerates this arrangement as the Boyles and their men are his best customers. Burling also shares a complicated relationship with shop receptionist Mable, who is also Ritchie's girlfriend. Mable has no interest in Burling's trade and ownership of the store, wanting instead to leave Chicago and travel the world.
One night, Francis shows up at the shop with Ritchie, who's been shot in the torso after a confrontation with the rival LaFontaine family, a black criminal organization. Burling is forced at gunpoint to treat Ritchie's wounds and hide a briefcase containing a copy of an FBI recording with detailed information on the crew's operations, which was provided by the "Outfit", a nationwide syndicate founded by Al Capone that protects criminal groups from the law. Francis gets in touch with Roy and departs, leaving Burling and Ritchie alone. The two men converse and start to bond, and Burling takes advantage of Ritchie's naivety to convince him that Francis is an informant and plans to hand the tape over to the FBI.
When Francis returns, Burling intercepts him, claiming that Ritchie is light-headed and delusional from blood loss. Ritchie threatens Francis, who is forced to kill him in self-defense. He and Burling then hide Ritchie's body just as Roy arrives with his bodyguard Monk. The two men lie and tell him that Ritchie left the store on his own; Francis volunteers to go find him. Roy notices his son's coat in the store's backroom and threatens Burling, demanding the truth. Francis then returns with Mable in tow, claiming that he found Ritchie's blood in her apartment. When Roy orders his men to torture her for information, Burling distracts him by revealing the reason why he came to Chicago: his wife and daughter were both killed in a fire at his former store on Savile Row.
When the shop's phone rings, Burling answers it; he tells Roy that Ritchie is still alive and waiting for him. Roy and Monk depart but leave Francis behind. Burling then explains to Francis why he lied: Mable is an FBI informant. Burling deduces that she started dating Ritchie just so she could spy on his family, blaming them for her father's murder, which Mable confirms. Burling directs Mable to call Violet LaFontaine, give her the fake location so she can ambush and kill Roy and his men, and offer to sell the recording. Francis is persuaded to go along with the plan when Burling tells him he can gun down Violet when she arrives at his store; with Roy dead, he will then be perfectly positioned to take over the crew.
Violet presents Mable with a large sum of money for the recording; Burling uses hand signals to warn her about Francis before staging an argument to lure him out. Francis is shot twice by Violet's bodyguards, and they leave with the tape. However, Burling then reveals that the "recording" is a fake. Mable realizes that he has been deceiving the Boyles from the start by planting messages from the Outfit, setting up a bug so they would incriminate themselves, and coaching her to trick both them and LaFontaine.
Burling gives her the real tape and the money and urges her to go and live her dreams. As Burling douses the store with flammable liquid and lights it with a match, Francis gets up and shoots him in the arm before his gun runs out of bullets; he then pulls out a knife. Burling undoes the buttons on his sleeves, revealing that his arms are heavily tattooed. As the fire in the back of the shop burns, he tells Francis that in his youth he was a gang enforcer until he was ordered to commit a heinous crime. Fleeing from his gang, he reinvented himself and started a family, until his old gang found them and burned down his shop. Francis lunges at Burling and a struggle ensues. Burling fatally stabs Francis in the neck with his prized fabric shears. Wearing a dark jacket to hide his wounds, Burling quietly leaves the store as it continues to burn.
Cast
* Mark Rylance as Leonard Burling
* Johnny Flynn as Francis
* Zoey Deutch as Mable Shaun
* Dylan O'Brien as Richie Boyle
* Simon Russell Beale as Roy Boyle
* Nikki Amuka-Bird as Violet LaFontaine
* Alan Mehdizadeh as Monk
Production
at the film's premiere in Berlin
'The Outfit' is the directorial debut of Graham Moore. It was written by Moore and Johnathan McClain, and produced by FilmNation Entertainment. In January 2021, the film was announced. In February, Focus Features pre-bought the distribution rights, and Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O'Brien, and Johnny Flynn joined the cast. In April, Simon Russell Beale and Nikki Amuka-Bird were added to the cast. Principal photography began on March 5, 2021, in London, England, with cinematographer Dick Pope. Filming wrapped in early April. During post-production, editing was completed by William Goldenberg and the musical score was composed by Alexandre Desplat.
Release
The film premiered at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2022. It was theatrically released in the United States on March 18, 2022, after being postponed from its original February 25 date. The film was released on streaming on April 8, 2022 by Peacock, and on Blu-ray and DVD on May 3, 2022, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, 'The Outfit' was released alongside 'Jujutsu Kaisen 0', 'Umma', and 'X', and was projected to gross $750,0002.5 million from 1,324 theaters in its opening weekend. The film earned $1.5 million in its opening weekend, finishing eighth. Men made up 56% of the audience during its opening, with those above the age of 35 comprising 60% of ticket sales and those above 45 comprising 40%. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 60% were Caucasian, 15% Hispanic and Latino Americans, 10% African American, and 15% Asian or other. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its second weekend, finishing twelfth with $568,180.Critical response
received praise for his performance.Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 74% positive score, with 55% saying they would definitely recommend it.
The performances of the cast, especially Rylance's, were well-received. Critics gave positive notes to the costume and production design, cinematography, score, and Moore's screenplay. 'Deadline Hollywood's Pete Hammond said Moore had "crafted a literate and thrilling gangster picture that brings a fresh touch to a well-worn genre".
References
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