When you finally get to direct your passion project 30 years after penning the script, it doesn’t hurt to have actors with four Oscars between them in your cast. John Lee Hancock was able to do that with The Little Things, which features Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto in a familiar yet unconventional story of detectives attempting to stop a serial killer. It’s familiar, in that it would have fit perfectly in the mold of Se7en, or Kiss the Girls in the ’90s when it was originally intended to be made, but unconventional in the way in which things unfold.
Most things that work with this film, do so on the strength of its cast. If you want someone to play a brilliant, but now burned-out detective following a case similar case to one that destroyed his career, health, and personal life—you can do no better than Washington as Deacon. Any time he spends alone, he looks more ragged than he did at the end of Man on Fire. The brilliance in his performance is how he snaps alive while he’s working the case, pursuing leads overlooked by Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), but then collapses back into a shell of himself during private moments. Deke’s poignant words to a deceased woman at the morgue, and the way old friends and colleagues speak about him, depict the unexplained grief and regret that surround him.
Rami Malek can bring an inimitable intensity to his characters–perhaps best on display playing Snafu in The Pacific–but it’s something of a trademark in the majority of his work. The editing really seems to lean into that, with long stares and pauses between dialogue going on a beat too long at times. It makes for awkward exchanges between he and Deke, but it’s an intentional choice. It might be distracting for some, and certainly doesn’t do the eventual runtime any favors, but still, it’s not enough to completely overshadow what Maled brings to the role. Baxter is a man who wants to exude confidence and leadership, but with victims piling up and no suspects, overwhelming frustration has set in, and he’s humbled enough to hope that Deke can see something he can’t.
With too many coincidences to ignore, it’s no spoiler to say that the pair of detectives become obsessed with a single suspect, Albert Sparma (Jared Leto). Leto, with greasy long hair, prosthetics, and red circles around his eyes looks like such an absolute creep that even if you aren’t sure he’s the serial killer they are looking for, he’s no stranger to hiding bodies on the weekends. Aside from being a bit of a foodie, his passions include appliance repair, strip clubs, high-mileage cars and idolizing brutal murders. It’s set up like a prove-what-you-know situation, but oddly, the suspect plays up their suspicions as much as he denies them. The oddest thing is that every once in awhile, Sparma will say something, or Leto will make a choice with the character, that genuinely makes you laugh despite the subject matter—and that’s such a serial killer thing to do.
Those that lived through the early parts of the ’90s will appreciate the work of set decorator, Susan Benjamin, with D.A.R.E signs and old computers at the police station, and the grunge rock and Lost Boys posters on the walls. That stuff is obvious, but she was meticulous, down to the beer cans and tape dispensers, because hey, it’s the little things that get you caught. The fact that Hancock decided to keep events set in the decade makes a lot of sense, considering advances in DNA analysis would have simplified things quite a bit, and Deke and Baxter certainly would have benefited from cell phones—especially in the last act. The plot was built for that time period and cinematographer John Schwartzman shot it with a combination of dark lighting and neon colors that sink it further into that feel, and it just works. If they absolutely got two things correct, they nailed the casting of this film, and they got the time period down.
The final act sneaks up on you, which is a bit surprising considering it does feel exactly as long as it is. It just sort of starts to unfold, and you don’t realize that the film is driving to its conclusion until it hits you, and you stay on the edge of your seat waiting for the worst to happen. Some people appreciate a film that doesn’t feel the need to make things nice and neat, and allows them to take things in and reflect about what they saw. Others want a clear beginning, middle and end that leaves nothing up for debate. It’s doubtful that this one is going to sit well the latter. There really should be no issue with messy though. Life is messy, it’s not straightforward, and that’s not the problem with The Little Things. Rather, it’s an inability to suspend belief enough to fathom that either of our two “heroes” would reach the point of inanity required to make its end plausible.
This is a film that deserves to be seen, because it gives its cast an opportunity to exist together in this world. The plot isn’t especially groundbreaking, and truthfully, the story missed its moment, but had it been made when it was written, we would not have seen this group of actors together in these roles, and that would have been a shame. While you know you’re watching a serial killer doom Baxter to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor, it’s ultimately the reveal of that mistake which feels most empty, and keeps The Little Things from achieving more.
