CITYist

This movie isn’t exactly obscure, but we still feel it managed to slip under the radar and didn’t receive all the accolades it deserved. First of all, it’s a Michael Mann film, so you can expect large, beautiful expanses of Midwest America. Second of all, it stars the superb Johnny Depp as his childhood hero, John Dillinger, and the aforementioned Marion Cotillard as his main squeeze. Throw in some thrilling historical detail (not entirely accurate—if you’d like accuracy, we suggest you read the book, which is equally fabulous) and some gorgeous 30s styling, and you’ve got a biopic we could watch over and over again.

Triggering a 30s and 40s revival on the fall runways, this depiction of dust bowl and depression harkens back to Bonnie and Clyde with a surer hand and an equally strong focus on substance and style. Soft spoken and dangerous, Depp wield’s Dillinger’s crooked smile like a gun while Billy Crudup goes all kinds of creepy in portraying the father of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. (Look out for a superb Christian Bale as Hoover’s right hand man as well.) Public Enemies captures a time when the criminals were not only daring but clever, and the government’s hold over peace and order was tentative at best. If you get the urge to go jump over some counters and rob a bank Dillinger-style, however, we’d kindly remind you that technology and law enforcement have come a long way since 1933.