The film features the novel’s protagonist Lionel Essrog (Norton), a private investigator with Tourette’s syndrome and a photographic memory, looking into the death of his mentor and boss Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) after a meeting gone wrong. Very loosely based on Jonathan Letham’s novel of the same name, Norton departs from the source material’s 1990s setting and turns it into a ‘50s noir mystery, a clever choice of time period that shares similarities with the current political context in terms of greed and corruption. Motherless Brooklyn embodies a certain genre that isn’t typically explored anymore, but it doesn’t quite capture the same magic as its counterparts, largely due to its sluggish pace and reliance on too-complex dialogue. Even though the ideas are relevant and current despite being set in 1957 –– Norton delves into racism, gentrification, and corruption, just to name a few –– Motherless Brooklyn makes so many incoherent twists and turns that it’s a wonder the lead detective can even keep up.
Instead of just focusing on a select few topics, locations, or even people, Norton juggles many at once, succeeding in some areas and failing in others. Director and star Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn is very much a “New York” film, and like the city it’s set in, there’s a lot going on.
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