BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD is a film that races with the pulse of a young filmmaker, but is constructed with the depth and maturity of an American master at the top of his game. Sidney Lumet's dark and intricate tale takes place in a world you will not want to enter, but the powerful screenplay by Kelly Masterson grabs you and won't let go. The film is a grand opera of immorality and is staged exquisitely by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and Albert Finney, whose performances fuse to form a diamond that sparkles with the dazzlement of dysfunction.