Rating: R | Runtime: 115 minutes
Release Date: October 20th, 2000 (USA)
Studio: Miramax
Director(s): James Gray
Writer(s): James Gray & Matt Reeves

Your mother needs you now.

After watching James Gray’s latest We Own the Night, my interest in seeing his previous work waned. It’s not that I hated the film. It just wasn’t quite to the quality of what I heard about his earlier stuff. Maybe some of that had to do with Mark Wahlberg playing a clean cop since I couldn’t believe him in the roles, but my opinion has completely turned around after viewing The Yards. I now see why Gray cast Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix again. He wanted to try and strike gold twice, after hitting that first collaboration out of the park.

This is possibly my favorite performance from Marky Mark (although I did love him in I Heart Huckabees). This role was made for him. Phoenix is put in a similar role as he was in Night—it’s weird making backwards comparisons considering I saw the new one before the old—and James Caan is absolutely spectacular in a turn that has more levels to it than anything I have ever seen him do either. This story is well crafted and directed throughout, enhancing the acting clinic going on. There’s truly little to fault.

The movie is a character study about an extended family at home and on the job. As the title alludes, the action sparks from the train yards of Queens, the corruption and greed that occurs there, and the business dealings of rival rail lines. Our entry point to the tale comes from young Leo Handler’s (Wahlberg) return home from a stint in jail where he took the fall for his friends. And everyone he covered for seem to have made a good lives for themselves while he was inside.

They all seem to have been working with his aunt’s new husband to clean up their street thug images. Leo believes that what he did was right and that those around him will do what they can to keep him out of trouble and hopefully make a life of his own to support his ailing mother too (an always stellar Ellen Burstyn). This trust is taken a bit blindly, though, as he soon discovers what it is his old friends do for his uncle. Rather than protect him, they ultimately drag him right back into the life of crime he desperately hoped to avoid.

We soon find our principals caught in a web of lies as they do what they can to keep this corrupt business afloat. Sometimes your best friend is the best fall guy, especially when he is the easy choice to go down. This is where trust shows how it can backfire quickly on a whim. I believe that aspect is the main driving force—trust in your parents, children, friends, partner, and, above all else, yourself. Leo is growing up very fast in a short time since his release. He may not be as good with words as his friend Willie (Phoenix), so he takes the advice to read those around him and see what they want in order to help himself to heart. While on the lam as an unknowing scapegoat, Leo finally sees who his true family is and what he wants his life to become.

The entire plot hinges on the success of Wahlberg and Phoenix’s relationship. These two have been through a lot together in their youth and find they’re more brothers than anything else. Willie is dating Leo’s cousin and working for his father after all. They’ve all adopted him into their family almost as a replacement for the kid who kept him out of jail. The two have absolute trust in each other, yet Willie finds himself flying too close to the sun. When push comes to shove, only one is truly willing to face the consequences for the other. Both actors are at the top of their game channelling the streets and showing what sacrifice means. Do you throw yourself on the sword or feed the other to the wolves?

The Yards doesn’t rely solely on them, though. The supporting cast is immense and each actor perfectly executes what’s needed. As previously mentioned, Caan is a powerhouse of emotion and restraint in a role that appears to be the tough guy patriarch he so often portrays before revealing a wealth of humanity at its core. Charlize Theron shows the skill that would eventually lead to an Oscar as the naïve cousin caught in a family of liars and cheaters who never knows who she can turn to for help.

Faye Dunaway delivers a nice performance in a small role that culminates with a heart-wrenching final moment at a funeral that’s perfect in its simplicity. I also love seeing the Hollywood “connect” system at work. Tony Musante has a small role similar to the one in Gray’s Night and Domenick Lombardozzi’s appearance begs the question of whether he landed a cameo in “Entourage” due to his HBO connection on “The Wire” or because of he began his friendship with Wahlberg (that comedy’s producer) on this film.

I must conclude by lauding the crew too. Harris Savides’ cinematography is spectacular. I love the moments of brown outs and darkness in general (a scene between Leo and his uncle alternating between light and shadow comes to mind). The fight scene between Leo and Willie is orchestrated nicely—beginning in close-up and eventually panning out via two cuts to a wide view and a later frame of Phoenix in his car, face shrouded in shadow with a single tear falling from his eye. It’s beautiful. Gray deserves all the credit for putting these pieces together and allowing his ensemble to excel. An earlier film before stardom hit for most, they definitely hold their own against some of cinema’s greats.

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Mark Wahlberg in Miramax’s THE YARDS.