Starting with an expectant father rushing to the hospital, hoping to make it in time to witness his child’s birth, Yuval Adler‘s Sympathy for the Devil is a movie designed to remind us that normal people with everyday concerns live in Las Vegas too, not just croupiers and magicians. Or so it seems. As the story progresses, Adler and screenwriter Luke Paradise will cause us to question whether David (Joel Kinnaman) really is a normal person. As intriguing and well-developed as that mystery is, though, it’s the other guy in the car with him that is the film’s secret weapon.
Before we get to him, though, let’s talk about what else Sympathy for the Devil has going for it. The score by Ishai Adar (who also scored Sandi Tan‘s Shirkers, one of the best documentaries of the 2010s) is creepy and ominous with its deep synthetic drones. All of which nicely complements the dark takes on American soul music on the soundtrack represented by greats like Scott Walker, Alan Vega and Jimmy Radcliffe.
Meanwhile, cinematographer Steven Holleran (new to me but worth watching out for) adds to the sickly cool tone of the movie with excitingly unsubtle lighting. Using a lot of “natural” sources, like street lamps and neon/LED signage, Holleran creates a look for Sympathy for the Devil that is both familiar and otherworldly.
Okay, I’ll let the cat out of the bag. The other guy in the car, who is given no name, is played by Nicolas Cage. He takes David hostage, diverting away from the imminent birth of his child, because he’s convinced that the man is not who he says he is. Here, Sympathy for the Devil comes to bear a very close resemblance to the plot of David Cronenberg‘s A History of Violence. Is David really the milquetoast he seems or does he have a more twisted past?
This set-up gives Kinnaman the chance to play against type as a, to be clinical about it, total dweeb. Or maybe he’s not. Nonetheless, Cage is playing very much to type as the shouty, ticky, weirdo with the gun pointed at David’s head.
And there we have it. The secret weapon to which I referred earlier. Cage, who’s supposed to be doing some kind of Boston accent, apparently, sounds more like an amped-up Christopher Walken. Paradise’s screenplay is weighted about 80/20 in favor of Cage over Kinnaman and that’s absolutely the best possible choice. When David even tries to talk, Cage screams at him for interrupting. Sympathy for the Devil has plenty going for it aesthetically and on the page. But it’s Adler’s decision to simply let Cage be Cage that puts the whole affair over the top.
