The Company You Keep

We've seen films about hidden secrets from many years prior before. "Running on Empty", and even Robert Redford's "Ordinary People" seem to come to mind. Even the recent "The Place Beyond the Pines" smacks of this concept. So when I viewed "The Company You Keep", I realized that this was yet another one of those 'the-past-comes-back-to-haunt-you type films.

A single father's upper-middle class life as an attorney in upstate New York is shattered when his past as a radical activist member of the Weather Underground is revealed by an eager, yet honest young investigative reporter from the Albany Sun Times, Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf). This man, Jim Grant, AKA Nick Sloan (Robert Redford) is then accused of having been the triggerman at a deadly bank robbery during the Vietnam era 30 years prior. Forced to go on the lam, the man evades law enforcement, retired Henry Osborne (Brendan Gleeson), the FBI headed up by Agent Cornelius (Terrence Howard), and encounters a series of drug dealers, bomb-planting radicals turned leftist academics, Vietnam vets--Donal Fitzgerald (Nick Nolte) and Jed Lewis (Richard Jenkins), and Republicans who collectively ponder the legacy of the '60s, while searching for the one woman, Mimi Laurie (Julie Christie) who can prove his innocence.

Others to round out the cast are Susan Sarandon as Sharon Solarz, first accused of this bank robbery, Chris Cooper as Daniel Sloan, Nick's brother, Stanley Tucci as Ray Fuller, Ben's editor at the Sun Times, Anna Kendrick as Diana, who works for the FBI, Brit Marling as Rebecca Osborne, Henry's daughter, Sam Elliott as Mac McLeod, friend of Mimi's, Stephen Root as Billy Cusimano, friend of Susan's, and Jackie Evancho as Isabel Grant, Jim/Nick's daughter.

This was directed with his usual grit and expertise by Redford ("Ordinary People" '80, "The Milagro Beanfield War" '88, "A River Runs Through It" '92, "Quiz Show" '94, "The Horse Whisperer" '98, "The Legend of Bagger Vance" 2000, "Lions for Lambs" '07, "The Conspirator" '10), and how he is able to emit emotion in such subtle but powerful ways through his actors is astounding. This is only his ninth directed film since 1980, but with the quality in which he inserts in his projects, and the carefulness in what he chooses to direct, it makes the waiting that much more anticipatory. This was written by Lem Dobbs based on Neil Gordon's novel. Once this yarn gets going, this is a tight, gripping story with some surprises, so be patient with this. It has a lot to say, it just takes a little time for it to get off the ground. Shia LaBeouf definitely is the one that shines in this. It is ironic, considering most of the rest of the cast are consummate veterans in the biz.

In any rate, this is assuredly one that gives that one, two punch where no one is considered sacred. As you watch how all these lives are intertwined in one way or another, you'll wonder how it took 30 years for this secret to fully surface.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                     Rated: R                       122mins.