Victor
Lustig was in prison throughout the 1980s, so he missed Tough Guys with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, but he would
understand the premise. He also missed Rectify,
but now he can start binging it. After forty-some years behind bars, Lustig is
finally paroled. Of course, he only had one skill—safe-cracking, but there is still
a demand for it in Julian Fort’s The
Midnighters (trailer
here), which screens tomorrow during the 2018 SF Indie Fest.
Lustig
is in his early 70s and practically destitute, with no foreseeable prospects,
but he accepts full responsibility for his situation and refuses to feel sorry
for himself. Supposedly, an associate was holding his share of the loot for
safe-keeping, but it was plundered in the 80s. At this point, it isn’t worth
getting upset over, but it necessarily means Lustig could use the money when he
is offered a potentially lucrative safe job.
Frankly,
the gig smells like trouble, so Lustig probably would have passed if it hadn’t
been his long-lost son Danny recruiting him. The junior Lustig apparently
entered the family business, but he uses computers rather than dynamite or a
stethoscope. However, it is the senior Lustig who better understands the
gravity of Danny’s new Russian mob associates.
For years, journeyman character actor Leon
Rossum has paid the bills with soap opera work, but his leading man star turn
was worth witting for. As Lustig, he nails all the expected hardboiled attitude
and world-weariness, but he also conveys the tragic dignity of the Rip Van Winkle
character. If this were a major studio release, Rossum would be a shoe-in for awards
consideration, but it isn’t, so the lazy guilds and critics groups will just
ignore it. It is a shame, because it is terrific work, comparable in several
respects to Robert Forster in Jackie
Brown.
Rossum’s fellow episodic television
veteran John Wesley matches his grizzled charisma but adds some scene-stealing
sardonic humor as Lustig’s old crony Chester. Likewise, Larry Cedar largely
defines the film with his relatively brief but significant screen time as Lustig’s
hope-scuttling parole officer.
