this movie is my new obsession!!!!!!! i'm literally going to force everyone i know to watch it, it was so good!!!!!!!

opening up with the shots of new york in the heat of the summer, with amoreena by elton john playing in the background– so smart tonally.

i've only seen two movies featuring al pacino: the irishman and once upon a time in hollywood. this is not to say his performances in either film is bad, but when watching those more recent movies you're watching The Al Pacino, if you know what i mean. this feels like my first al pacino film, and my expectations were exceeded in terms of his performance. i read that behind the scenes pacino would intentionally make himself physically exhausted in order to mimic sonny's panic throughout the robbery. when watching the big !! ATTICA !! (improvised) scene, you can't help but want to chant with pacino. the two phone calls back-to-back, one to each of his wives, is a great bit of acting.

the performance of chris sarandon as "leon," in reality liz eden, is thought-provoking to say the least. the photographs of the actual liz almost exactly match the costume and hair/makeup. the real life sonny also praised sarandon's performance as liz, saying it was accurate. sarandon portrayed an early trans character in film, which is important to say the least. thank god they didn't erase sonny's sexuality or liz's gender identity.

this film is incredibly entertaining, funny, political, and timely for the period in new york history. i think it's incredible that sidney lumet was able to craft a movie that takes place largely within the same space with much of the actions repeated again and again, but still hold the attention of the audience. the careful feeding of new information and building up to the finale makes for such a great piece of filmmaking.

in conclusion: sonny robbed a bank for his wife's gender-affirming surgery, and that's completely valid :)