Sean Sullivan’s Death Anniversary
For some reason, Hell’s Kitchen is often used as a film setting, especially mafia story films. It doesn’t matter from the previous twenty years until now, filmmakers’ interest has not diminished one bit. Even though too much has been exposed, starting from “Public Enemy” (Michael Mann, 2009), “Mean Streets” (Martin Scorsese, 1973), “Sleepers” (Barry Levinson, 1996) to “Ash Wednesday” (Edward Burns, 2002). The latter is the latest product that emphasizes the ulcers of residential areas with high crime rates.
“Ash Wednesday” relies on the story of Frances Sullivan (Edward Burns) who helps his brother, Sean Sullivan (Elijah Wood) escape after 3 years in hiding. Sean becomes a suspect in the murder of 2 people he shot dead. This incident made many parties look for him. But thanks to his brother, Sean can be ‘helped’ by spreading the news that Sean had died. It’s easy for people to believe it.
Problems arise when Sean, who can’t stand being cooped up in his hiding place for 3 years, sneaks in clandestinely. Just in time for Ash Wednesday, exactly 3 years since he left. Someone he had spoken to at the bar told people that Sean was still alive. Get excited all over Hell’s Kitchen. Also Grace (Rosario Dawson), Sean’s wife who has given him a son. Unfortunately, Sean’s desire to start a new life doesn’t go smoothly. There are still many parties who help Frances prepare a second escape for his brother. Apart from being an actor, Edward Burns is also known as a director. However, not many of his works are ‘talking’. Neither is his most recent work, “Ash Wednesday”.
This film does not try to take a ‘different’ point of view for similar films. The recipe is still the same: the strength of brotherhood, the shoulder-to-shoulder friends, to the curses that are scattered throughout the film. So it’s not surprising that the ending can be so predictable, especially for viewers who like this type of film. Even the storyline flows too slowly, too much ‘nonsense’ is inserted in the dialogue so that the supporting characters become unimportant. There’s no character digging either. Until the film ends, it is possible that the audience will not know why Sean killed these 2 people. Apparently, Burns wanted to ‘elevate’ Hell’s Kitchen with his harsh words. And well, maybe that’s the impression most audiences get after watching this film.
Fortunately, “Ash Wednesday” can still be praised for the tone of using colors that are not ‘ordinary’ (very effective in creating a grungy impression) which are used continuously throughout the film. Also thumping music and sometimes deliberately repeated. Real repetition can be boring, but somehow, here Burns makes it almost ‘hypnotic’. Above all, Elijah Wood must be applauded for his courage to accept a different role than usual. Apart from the less rough accent, as displayed by other players, Wood still doesn’t look too bad.
*This article was previously published in the 2013 edition of Movie Guide 101.
Ichwan Persada is a director/producer/screenwriter, and was a lecturer at the SAE Institute and Padjadjaran University.
