At the Movies - 'Ash Wednesday'

The Associated Press

A drastic change in genre has worked wonders for Edward Burns, who has crafted his finest film yet after years of diminishing returns since a promising debut with "The Brothers McMullen."

Burns' Irish gang drama "Ash Wednesday" is a stark, wonderfully written examination of brotherhood, guilt, atonement and sacrifice that moves with relentless momentum to a harsh, inevitable conclusion.

The intimately photographed film has a cloistered, almost claustrophobic look that suits its themes of loss and reclamation among Irish-American Catholics in New York's Hell's Kitchen.

Writer, director, producer and star Burns presents a marvelous sense of uneasy community among the Irish, who are trying to retain their sway as they watch their neighborhood slowly pass over to Hispanics and other new immigrants.

From key co-stars such as Elijah Wood and Rosario Dawson right down to bit players, Burns elicits unaffected, understated performances that feel genuine and inspired by the characters' passions of the moment.

Burns' films have gradually declined since "Brothers McMullen," from the romance "She's the One" to the drama "No Looking Back" to the weakest of the lot, last year's Woody Allen-esque ensemble stinker "Sidewalks of New York."

There's been a whiny, smarmy sameness about the roles he's written for himself in each. With "Ash Wednesday," though Burns still plays a cocky know-it-all, his character's whininess modulates to fatalistic desperation as he struggles to live the straight life while circumstance inexorably draws him back to the street-thug world in which he grew up.

The movie opens in 1980 with a compelling prologue on Ash Wednesday, the start to Roman Catholic Lent, the season of penance before Easter. Bartender Sean Sullivan (Wood) overhears three gang members' plans to kill his brother, Francis Sullivan (Burns), a vicious enforcer for the Irish mob in which their father was a key figure.

Sean, the son for whom their father foresaw a future beyond a life of crime, pulls a pistol from behind the bar, follows the hit men to the restroom and guns them down.

The rest of the film takes place on Ash Wednesday three years later. Sean is presumed slain in retribution because an arm bearing his jewelry was found in the East River. Francis has gone straight, runs a dive bar and looks after Sean's wife, Grace (Dawson), and their young son.

The quiet life Francis has found is shattered by reports that Sean is alive and back in the neighborhood. Everyone demands answers from Francis: the local crime boss (Malachy McCourt); a mob rival (Oliver Platt) whose men Sean killed; a police detective (Michael Mulheren); and an assortment of henchmen.

Turns out Francis, with help from the parish priest (James Handy), took care of a hitman sent to kill Sean, faked his brother's death and spirited him out of town.

Against his brother's advice, Sean now has returned to collect his wife, forcing Francis to wrestle with taking up arms again to get Sean and his family to safety.

Like Tom Hanks' Irish mob tale "Road to Perdition," "Ash Wednesday" is a deceptively straightforward yarn that cuts deeper spiritually than it appears to at first glance.

Francis is a man of action who does not stop to moralize, but his torn conscience is visible in the subtleties of Burns' dialogue and demeanor. Adding to his emotional crisis is a relationship of longing that has developed between Francis and Grace in Sean's absence.

Though set in early spring, "Ash Wednesday" has an autumnal, journey's-end texture that is nicely complemented by Russell Lee Fine's dusky cinematography and David Shire's mournful piano score.

"Ash Wednesday," an Empire Pictures release, is rated R for pervasive rough language and some violence. Running time: 98 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.