S2E07 - Blocking in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Okay, folks, it's time for blocking! The pre-planned arrangement, movement, and posturing of characters in a frame is one of a director's most artistically demanding on-set tasks, and nobody blocked a scene better than Sidney Lumet (whom we've already talked about once this season). Screenwriter and Lumet mega-fan Cameron Carpenter joined us to talk about the blocking in Lumet's swan song, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. We also found time to talk about the film as an early example of digital cinematography, and chatted about how critics responded to the presence of a naked woman in the film (not well) and directorial batting averages.

In this episode, we discuss:

What “blocking” entails and its origins.
Analysis of the blocking in several scenes of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.
The digital imagery of the film and Lumet’s unique status as an old-guard advocate for digital.
The sexist aspects of the film’s contemporaneous critical reception .
Cam workshops his stand-up material. ;)

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