Darren Aronofsky’s Kinetic ‘Caught Stealing’ Lives off the Presence of Austin Butler

Alci Rengifo

Darren Aronofsky is a director who has gained his own brand of cult status from a catalog of enthralling films that are wildly diverse but united by grandiose ideas. He likes deep metaphors and profound, at times cosmic, plots. That Aronofsky fully disappears with “Caught Stealing” is a kinetic exercise in genre filmmaking. The director has decided to go for what amounts to a simple crime caper, driven more by its style and the presence of Austin Butler. There’s almost something old- fashioned to the screenplay written by novelist Charlie Huston and based on their 2004 novel. The basic ingredients revolve over the usual that lead people to commit extreme acts, money. 

The story is set in 1998, which is interestingly enough the year Aronofsky debuted with the mind-bending mathematical thriller “Pi.” Butler is Hank, a bartender in New York’s Lower East Side who used to be a baseball player with much promise, until a car accident dashed his dreams. He drinks hard and hooks up with Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), who you could call his girlfriend even if the exact depth of his commitment is unclear. A neighbor at Hank’s grimy building, Russ (Matt Smith), a Mohawk-decked British punk, asks Hank to watch over his cat while traveling to London to see his ailing father. Sounds simple enough until some Russian thugs show up looking for Russ and end up giving Hank a heavy beating. It turns out Russ left a key hidden in a hilariously peculiar way in Hank’s apartment pointing to some major cash, so now a slew of dangerous people are after it. 

“Caught Stealing” keeps going from there with an adrenaline punk rock energy that easily grabs even as the plot feels like a series of pit stops. Supporting characters are almost mere decorations for Hank to meet along the way as he races to find the money and evade multiple threats. Above all is how Aronofsky constructs the film. It is an almost sensual experience different from the director’s psychological thrillers like “Black Swan,” powerful character studies such as “The Whale,” or wild surrealist trips like “Mother!” At times you don’t have to read too much into this film and just let the soundtrack by Rob Simonsen and British post-punk band Idles drive the gritty, lushly composed shots of Aronofsky’s regular cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Enduring outlaw movies tend to thrive specifically on images because of the way such figures are portrayed with infectious air.

Austin Butler has that kind of presence, which has been evident since his breakthrough in “Elvis” and recent roles in stronger films like “The Bikeriders,” where he seems to channel the aura of Hollywood rebels from a bygone era. In “Caught Stealing” he has the same kind of vulnerable meets tough appeal, uttering lines like James Dean and smirking like a rock star. He truly has to carry the movie since Aronofsky and Huston don’t care for following a strict thriller line. Characters suddenly die off and new ones jump in. The supporting cast is strong enough to make the parade of side personas memorable. Regina King appears as Detective Roman, who insists she wants to help Hank avoid bigger trouble from serious killers. Benito Martinez Ocasio aka Bad Bunny drops in for another fun role as the oddball Latin boss of the brainless Russian thugs who beat up Hank. He barks orders and bemoans mistakes, almost winking at the exaggerated style of telenovelas. Matt Smith is so convincing as a snarky British punk that the role decimates any memory of his sophisticated turns in shows like “The Crown.”

Hank makes it through meeting this ensemble while his body is itself a slight ticking bomb. After having a kidney taken out he’s meant to stop drinking, meaning there will be plenty of temptation along the way. Such small details are used to build the character as opposed to later on becoming plot devices. Aronofsky feels like he’s a filmmaker just out to have fun portraying these colorful underworld types all sniping after the same bag of cash. Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio completely disappear as Lipa and Shmully, Hasidic brothers who happen to be very efficient hitmen. They still worry about observing Jewish customs while taking care of business. It proves Aronofsky can also be funny. His cinema isn’t exactly known for its sense of humor. Few will laugh during his famously dreary “Requiem for a Dream” and his biggest attempt at blockbuster filmmaking, “Noah,” is all about humanity’s reckoning through the Biblical flood. The more you know about the director’s work, the more refreshing “Caught Stealing” can feel. The mark of a great director can be their capacity for growth within new genres. 

By the end we realize the real plot at play is that we enjoy just watching Hank exist in this world and try to survive. He also has a cat which doesn’t get out unscratched but makes the perfect silent companion for a zany caper. It’s another nice detail in a movie that is all about its craft. As if teasing that he has been watching all the latest trends, Aronofsky even includes a post-credit scene with a surprise cameo. Huston does continue the adventures of Hank in the novels “Six Bad Things” and “A Dangerous Man.” Will they be adapted? Aronofsky would have to return to keep the tone consistent. “Caught Stealing” is unique in how we rarely get a director of this caliber letting loose and bringing to a genre of this kind a different sort of artistry. Style over substance is not a bad thing when it’s done this well.

“Caught Stealing” releases Aug. 29 in theaters nationwide.