Great Character: Andy Hanson (“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”)

This month’s theme: Great Philip Seymour Hoffman characters. Today: Guest poster Jason Cuthbert looks at Andy Hanson from the 2007 movie Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, written by Kelly Masterson.

What kind of older brother convinces his weaker-willed younger sibling to plot a robbery of their own parents’ jewelry store, leading to their mother getting killed? The answer is the same sort of older son who eventually gets suffocated to death by his father in retribution. This dysfunctional family gets cross-examined by the director’s director Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon), screenwriter Kelly Masterson (Snowpiercer) Albert Finney as the grieving father figure, Ethan Hawke as the gullible younger brother Hank Hanson and a enthralling metamorphosis from Philip Seymour Hoffman as the love-starved first born bro Andy Hanson in the unsettling 2007 crime thriller Before the Devil Knows Your Dead.

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead from IMDB:

When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents’ jewelry store the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that sends them, their father and one brother’s wife hurtling towards a shattering climax.

With the robbery of the Hanson Family’s jewelry store being the central event that permanently fractures this family unit, the nonlinear Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead screenplay gives us multiple points of view of this tragic heist, along with its causes and effects. Andy Hanson’s volatile scheme, criminal money embezzling at his real estate job, debilitating drug addiction, cheating wife and love-starved family life allows Philip Seymour Hoffman the opportunity to give each main human emotion a wild whirl across the screen. Manipulation. Fury. Anxiety. Regret. Obsession. Scorn. Betrayal. Shock. Rejection. Confusion. Hoffman manages to shatter all of these targets with committed accuracy.

ANDY HANSON: I’m not, I’m not the sum of my parts. All my parts don’t add up to one… to one me, I guess.

Sibling rivalry seems quite one-sided between Andy and Hank. Andy introduces conflict, and Hank simply submits to it. But there is also a spookier layer to Andy — he possesses a mix of jealousy and disappointment towards his brother Hank. As easily as Andy can invade Hank’s brain and take his better judgment hostage, Andy also finds his expectations of the younger, more traditionally attractive Hank leaving a whole lot to be desired.

ANDY HANSON: (to Hank) What’s the matter with you? You used to have the world by the balls. Now I don’t think you got any.

There is a strange dual role of exploiter/protector that Andy plays in Hank’s life. He lacks any noticeable respect for his younger brother, pushing him into the line of fire, and then ironically trying to project a heroic image to Hank by wiping his wounds in the aftermath. Hank never fully signs up for these “Andy Missions” to begin with. But there is a desire to bond; unfortunately the baggage is just too heavy between them for anything organic to emerge.

ANDY HANSON: (to Hank) How are we gonna fix it so your shit doesn’t fall on my shoes?

Andy seems to resent and reject the cushy suburban life his parents have laid out in front of him, refusing to follow in the family business and living in the bustling urban enclaves of NYC instead of the trees and grass of Westchester. It becomes apparent that Andy has always felt like the broken branch on his family tree, neglected and isolated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_i1yhjzdgI

Unfortunately, this self-made life Andy has concocted for himself is littered with harsh drug use, thievery to fuel his narcotic consumptions and a wife that would rather sex up Hank when Thursday roles around. Let’s not forget, it’s not like Hank suddenly forgets that he is penetrating his sister-in-law each week. Is this Hank’s passive-aggressive secret revenge for Andy’s blatant disrespect towards him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrSA5tw_KSc

When Andy finally raises a gun to Hank, with the knowledge of Hank’s affair with Andy’s wife Gina (Marisa Tomei), it is clear that there is no more brotherhood, no more second chance for family counseling. Andy has officially lit the fuse to what’s left of his nuclear family, willing to watch it explode.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has been the mighty master of the sympathetic underdogs, the indelible outsiders and the eccentric good guys. But with the volcanic combustion of Andy Hanson’s bipolar tendencies, we are reminded of Hoffman’s hidden haunting intensity that has made antagonistic roles like Andy among his most memorable.

For his numerous emotional spin cycles, his exclamation point provocative quips and his achy-breaky heart — Andy Hanson is a standing ovation-worthy GREAT CHARACTER from the Philip Seymour Hoffman collection.

Thanks, Jason, for a memorable month of Great Characters focusing on Philip Seymour Hoffman.


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