THE OUTFIT. UK, 2022. Starring Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O'Brien, Johnny Flynn, Simon Russell Beale. Directed by Graham Moore. 105 minutes. Rated MA (Strong violence and coarse language).
What’s in a name? In the past, the word ‘outfit’ referred to what one was wearing. But, then came the gangster films and many of us thought first of mob organisations when we hear the word ‘outfit’. Both meanings are relevant here.
This is a surprisingly interesting drama. In fact, while the setting is Chicago in the 1950s, it is a British film, filmed in London studio, a single set, the interior of a tailoring shop, with some glimpsing shots outside the store in the snow. And the cast is principally British plus two American actors.
Audiences familiar with the work of Rylance will correctly have strong expectations – after all, he was the director of the London Globe Theatre for a decade and has been a significant presence on the large and small screen (Cromwell in Wolf Hall and an Oscar for his performance in Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies). We watch his meek and reticent manner at times as Leo Burling, insisting to those who refer to as a tailor that he was a ‘cutter’, making the top-class suits by hand. In fact, he does the voice-over and begins by explaining to us the various steps of choosing fabrics, measuring, cutting, sewing, producing his work. And he has a local assistant, Mabel, a strong-minded character played by Deutch.
Even as we focus on the cutter, listening to his commentary, we notice the Al Capone tradition of Chicago, of a range of people coming in to deposit envelopes of money, checked on by the brash son of the local mob boss, Richie (O’Brien), always accompanied by his protector, Francis (Flynn). We are later surprised to see London theatre actor, Simon Russell Beale, as Richie’s father, the local boss.
The action takes place overnight. Richie and Francis come back to the shop, Richie wounded by an ambush from other gangsters. Leo sews him up. However, there is a confrontation between Richie and Francis and a jolting twist to the plot. We know that Leo is shrewd but we perhaps did not realise how shrewd in his handling of the consequent situation, the arrival of the young man’s father, information concerning other gangs in the city, Francis’ temptation to take over the leadership of his gang. And Mabel returning and caught up in the twists.
And, continually interesting, looking at Leo, listening to him, his shrewd and quiet manipulation of characters and events, even to the arrival of the rival gang, La Fontaine (led by Nikki Amuka-Bird).
At the centre all the intrigue is a tape-recording and somebody in the gangs feeding the information to the FBI.
This is a well-written film, with intricacies of plot, the tones of language to express each of the characters and their character, written by first-time director, Graham Moore, who had won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay in 2014 for the Enigma code cracking-Alan Turing drama, The Imitation Game.
This will not appeal to those who are eager for fast-paced action. But, it will of great interest to a generally adult audience that values plot, complexities, character.
Universal
Released 18 August