Lionel and his cohort Coney (Ethan Suplee) keep watch as point men for their mentor, Frank Minna ( Bruce Willis ) who runs the detective agency the boys work out of. Norton’s “ Motherless Brooklyn ” opens with a stylish sequence. In Lethem’s novel, he is described as having Tourette’s syndrome, though his condition remains unnamed in the film, likely due to the historic transposition. Lionel Essrog is a snoop who struggles with coprolalia, a condition of the nervous system that results in repeated, involuntary twitches and outbursts - sometimes obscene ones. The film transplants Lethem’s ‘90s narrative to the 1950s, a time before Dick Tracy was the tropey noir-strip classic it is today. “If I were a Dick Tracy villain, I’d have to be Mumbles,” gumshoe Lionel Essrog suggests in his rambling opening monologue from Jonathan Lethem’s best-selling crime novel, “Motherless Brooklyn.” In the book he’s described as a self-appointed human freakshow, whereas in the film version, writer/director/star Edward Norton plays Lionel as if his character is initially embarrassed by the nickname bestowed on him by the city. Florence, Italy: What to Do and Where to Stay in the Heart of TuscanyĮdward Norton’s ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ Transplants the Contemporary Crime Novel to the 1950s With Mixed Results.
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