We Own the Night (2007)

A New York City nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian Mafia hitmen.

Director:

James Gray

Writer:

James Gray

Stars:

Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Bobby Green
Eva Mendes	...	Amada Juarez
Danny Hoch	...	Jumbo Falsetti
Alex Veadov	...	Vadim Nezhinski
Oleg Taktarov	...	Pavel Lubyarsky
Dominic Colón	...	Freddie (as Dominic Colon)
Joseph D'Onofrio	...	Bloodied Patron (as Joe D'Onofrio)
Elena Solovey	...	Kalina Buzhayev
Moni Moshonov	...	Marat Buzhayev
Mark Wahlberg	...	Joseph Grusinsky
Maggie Kiley	...	Sandra Grusinsky
Paul Herman	...	Spiro Giavannis
Robert Duvall	...	Burt Grusinsky
Antoni Corone	...	Michael Solo
Craig Walker	...	Russell De Keifer

Storyline

Brooklyn, 1988. Crime is rife, especially drugs and drug violence. A Russian thug is building his heroin trade, while everyone laughs at the cops. Brothers have chosen different paths: Joe has followed his father Bert into New York's Finest; he's a rising star. Bobby, who uses his mother's maiden name, manages a club. Bobby too is on the rise: he has a new girlfriend and a green-light to develop a Manhattan club. Joe and Bert ask him to help with intelligence gathering; he declines. Then, Joe raids Bobby's club to arrest the Russian. From there, things spiral out of control: the Russian puts out a hit on Joe, personal losses mount, and Bobby's loyalties face the test.

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Plot Keywords:

brother brother relationship | female masturbation | sex | female stockinged legs | pantyhose | 

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Taglines:

One family on opposite sides of the law... Two brothers about to collide.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, drug material, language, some sexual content and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Spanish

Release Date:

12 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

La nuit nous appartient

Filming Locations:

East Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,826,287, 14 October 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$28,563,179, 15 November 2007

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$54,926,886, 31 December 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, 2929 Productions, Industry Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During filming, Eva Mendes reportedly asked James Gray if he'd change her character's name to honor her late grandmother Amada, whom she never met.

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Goofs

A poster shown in the background of several squad room scenes shows the NYPD's top four CURRENT medals (Medal of Honor, Combat Cross, Medal of Valor, and Purple Shield). The Purple Shield award was not created until 1995. This is obviously a modern day NYPD poster.

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Quotes

Joseph Grusinsky: I don't need any more guns in my life, that's for sure. But you should have one to be safe. It's better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.

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Connections

References Lost Highway (1997)

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Soundtracks

Mambo Diablo
Written by Tito Puente
Performed by Tito Puente
Courtesy of Concord Music Group

User Reviews

Tail the Ten Year Olds

Greetings again from the darkness. Although there is an air of familiarity about the story ... dutiful son, black sheep, worshiped father, family turmoil, redemption, etc ... writer/director James Grey still manages to create enough drama, tension and believability to make this a quality picture.

It never hurts to have Robert DuVall, Mark Wahlberg and especially Joaquin Phoenix in your three lead roles. Heck even Eva Mendes shows a little acting ability in a couple of scenes. Toss in a shootout in a drug factory, a really cool (but short) car chase in the rain, and hide and seek in the tall reeds and you got an above average cop thriller/family melodrama.

The three leads are well cast and do a nice job of establishing the obvious lifestyle and character differences very quickly. I especially enjoyed the scenes with Phoenix and DuVall. Special note on Alex Veadov who plays a really bad man ... he is scary.