Dusk for a Hitman
Though few people would have ever imagined it would morph into what it is today, “Dusk for a Hitman” carries the promise of being a film that eventually reaches great heights. The difficulty with such aspirations as stated by director Raymond St. Jean is that he presents a synch or fallacy with this Ivan Lavoie figure of sorts who exists in reality across Montreal the way to turn a monotonous narrative. A combination of emotions is naturally present as avenues of contact killings are constantly regarding survival and trust which is the fine plot twist a viewer looks for. Contradictory to expectations perhaps perhaps no or even great shock, would be left unturned at the world of which Lavoie was a part of which promisingly I had brought up the climax in the starting itself made for the worst watchable character study that exists.
The turning point of events in the moving picture occurs predominantly in the year “Dusk for a Hitman” and appears in the Autumn of 1979. Lavoie, voiced expertly by Éric Bruneau is portrayed driving a caramel Cadillac on a country road with a colleague he has never met before. His young accomplice was requested from Lavoie by their boss Claude Dubois after the boy failed the previous lot. Lavoie is here with a mission to complete the task. Now as left to assist me as it may sound after killing someone it looks simple after you have actually seen a person in real, Lavoie grimly says.
The pair skillfully gain access to the lair of their intended victim and manage to shoot him down as he excretes in an outhouse. This is only the first part of the task, for in the blink of an eye, Lavoie shoots his accomplice.
Lavoie is the best assassination expert that Dubois has hired. This, and the fact that the real killer admitted to killing fifteen for a crime kingpin who with his mobster brother (the film cuts out the sibling) basically ran Montreal shows how conceivably plausible it is that the hitman hired by yap Dubois was a professional chronic murderer. Not only does he carry out hits, but Lavoie also acts as a debt collector and an enforcer.
Dubois trusts him to the extent that the boss even tells his assassin the place where the money is hidden should his enemies ever be stupid enough to abduct him. No further insight, outside of that which is characteristic of a common, albeit close boss and employee relationship, does St-Jean and Martin Girard provide as to the operations of the organization. So, if you expect Henry Hill to provide the “Goodfellas” view of Lavoie and his memories and attitudes, forget it. This does not have to be the weakness however. I would even argue this is intentional because Dubois kills rats and screw ups that fast there is no point trying to remember their names. What baffles me though is why more world-building could not have taken place. Whose territory is Dubois’, what does his enterprise look like?
There’s a similar insubstantiality in the case of Lavoie’s family life.
His wife, Francine, for instance (Rose-Marie Perreault), is so bland that she’s basically redundant. As far as I am concerned, his young daughter doesn’t even have a name. Lavoie mostly refers to her as the child. Once more, I get the impression that this is on purpose. Similar to the way Scorsese managed to handle the character of Anna Paquin in The Irishman. Lavoie is such an addict of murder, drugs, and cash that for him, his family is not people worth knowing. But in the latter part of the narrative, when Lavoie’s focus changes to his family, only two scenes depicting his daughter are witnessed and both are very short. It is this absence which after some time stops portraying the character and takes the viewer out of the story like a broken thread.
Even the troubled connection Lavoie has with his screw up brother is worth looking more into. An unseen malignant father, sick with cancer casts a shadow over their heads and Lavoie is not even fond of his dad. However, it is a pain that is always pointed towards but never truly experienced.
As for the pictures and the score, the works displayed in Dusk for a Hitman aren’t remarkable. The compositions are traditional (Bruneau’s always in the middle of the frame), and the soundtrack features a mix of hard rock that can be found in any modern action/cops and robbers movies.
Regardless of their ease of use, they fit in a film with a callous killer at its core whose dark soul has nearly made him a stranger to himself. There are, however, moments when a long shot does some work even with the generally placid optics. When Lavoie gets out of jail, the sharp shots give you the impression that Dubois will kill Lavoie. St Jean and DP Jean François Lord anticipate such expectations. Some straightforward blocking maintains sight of one more third gangster when interrogating a witness while the layout of the subsequent assassination allows other contracts’ killers to remain just behind Lavoie’s back.
St-Jean is indeed fortunate to have Bruneau in his corner. In a clearly physical transformation, the lanky actor consciously prepares for the act of murder as calm and motionless, goes into action as tense and in motion, and appears rattled when under the influence of cocaine. Bruneau moves silently into the role even when the story only allows for an arm’s length relationship with the character. He is crucial for us to be able to feel all Lavoie’s intimate pain strained rivalry with Detective Burns (Sylvain Marcel), which turns out later in the oddest of ways. A somewhat weaker strand would be the warm feelings Lavoie has for his family that are barely reached in the narrative. There is an air of potential that surrounds the film ‘Dusk for a Hitman’ that the violence, action, and coarseness could have elevated the film ten fold, but Bruneau also appreciates that St-Jean’s film more holds promise in the bare bones construction of the routine crime movie rather than promising any level of extravagance.
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