No one can spend time in Massachusetts without hearing about the exploits of James “Whitey” Bulger, Boston’s sociopathic gangster of the Seventies and Eighties. Johnny Depp brings Whitey to life in Scott Cooper’s chilling gangster film “Black Mass,” playing this weekend at Island theaters.
The film is an adaption of the book, “Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal,” which was co-authored by David Lehr, a seasonal resident of Aquinnah. For the book, Mr. Lehr relied on his experience covering the infamous mobster while he was a reporter for the Boston Globe.
Whitey launched his reign of terror as head of the Winter Hill Gang in 1975, after he joined forces with FBI agent and childhood friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) to bring down the Angiulo Brothers of the Boston Mafia. Mr. Depp immerses himself deeply in the character of Whitey, becoming almost unrecognizable with Whitey’s receding white-blonde hairline, meaty face and venomous blue eyes. Scriptwriters Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth flesh out Whitey’s character with anecdotes about his devotion to his son Douglas, who died of Reye’s syndrome in 1973; his affection for his mother and other old ladies of his Southie neighborhood; and his loyalty to his younger brother Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch), who became a powerful politician as president of the Massachusetts Senate.
Complicit in Whitey’s growing control of Boston’s criminal world, Mr. Connolly persuaded his FBI colleagues that Whitey could supply the bureau with invaluable information about other crooks. In fact, Whitey, who insisted he was never an informer, manipulated the bureau, the Boston police, and the State Police into giving him free rein to commit murder and mayhem, which lasted until he was finally caught in 2011 and convicted of 11 murders. At 85, he is serving two life terms.
“Black Mass” shows how Whitey’s pals — let alone enemies — who make a misstep end up full of bullet holes. Although women play a minor role in the film, they don’t fare any better than Whitey’s other victims. One young prostitute aligned with one of Whitey’s henchmen, Steve Flemmi (Rory Cochrane), is strangled to death. Whitey’s paramour Lindsey Cyr (Dakota Johnson) disappears after her son’s death, and Agent Connolly’s wife Marianne (Julianne Nicholson), terrorized by a confrontation with Whitey in her home, locks her husband out of their home.
One of the devices director Cooper puts to good use is close-up interviews with Whitey’s gang members like Flemmi and Kevin Weeks (Jesse Plemons) after they inform on their former boss for the FBI. Fellow gangster Brian Halloran (Peter Sarsgaard) tries to finger Whitey, but dies for his efforts. Agent Connolly’s boss, Charles McGuire (Kevin Bacon), resists protecting Whitey from prosecution, but fails until a new boss, Fred Wyshak (Corey Stoll), enters the scene. This star-studded cast, in conjunction with Johnny Depp, creates a vivid portrait of a dark period in Boston history.
‘Phoenix’ — mistaken identity in post-Holocaust Germany
German screenwriter and director Christian Petzold creates a grimly haunting story of a concentration camp survivor, Nelly Lenz (Nina Hoss), in “Phoenix,” playing this weekend at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center.
Viewers meet Nelly as she is driven across the border by Lene Winter (Nina Kunzendorf), who is attempting to help her recover from traumatic injuries suffered while in Auschwitz. A German surgeon reconstructs Nelly’s face, and as she heals, Lene encourages her to move to Israel. Instead Nelly searches for her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), and finds him in a cabaret called Phoenix. Johnny doesn’t recognize his wife, and gets her to impersonate herself so he can collect Nelly’s inheritance.
“Phoenix” evokes Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece “Vertigo.” In that film, James Stewart, as Scotty, becomes obsessed with a friend’s wife Madeleine, played by Kim Novak, and forces another woman, Judy (who looks exactly like Madeleine), to take on her identity. In “Phoenix,” Johnny is clearly a cad, but Nelly is so obsessed with him she plays along with his attempts to transform her into the wife he doesn’t recognize. “Phoenix” takes a complicated premise and illustrates yet another of the many destructive results of Nazi treatment of Jews.
“Black Mass,” Thursday, Sept. 24, 6:30 pm, Saturday, Sept. 25, 8:30 pm, Sunday, Sept. 26, 6:30 pm, Capawock Theater, Vineyard Haven; Friday, Sept. 25, 8:30 pm; Saturday, Sept. 26, 6 pm, Strand Theater, Oak Bluffs.
“Phoenix,” Friday, Sept. 25, 4 pm; Sunday, Sept. 27, 7:30 pm, Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, Vineyard Haven. For tickets and information, see mvfilmsociety.com.