What Doesn't Kill You

Aroview: A grubby, unpretentious thriller hatched amongst the urban boondocks of South Boston, in which two suffering, longtime friends (Ruffalo and Hawke) turn to crime as a means to an end.

Based upon Goodman’s own unflattering upbringing (a tough guy bit-player turned one-time filmmaker), the criminal milieu depicted here, while authentic and lived-in, is an exhausted setting, no thanks to a recent spate of movies also shot in Boston. For all its over-familiarity though, Goodman’s staunchly withdrawn directing style – one steeped in ordinariness – imbues this with an honesty that flashier relatives, namely THE DEPARTED, can’t lay claim too.

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