God's Pocket

2014
R
1h 28m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

13K

YOUR RATING

Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro in God's Pocket (2014)

When Mickey's crazy stepson Leon is killed in a construction 'accident', nobody in the working class neighborhood of God's Pocket is sorry he's gone. Mickey tries to bury the bad news with the body, but when the boy's mother demands the truth, Mickey finds himself stuck in a life and death struggle between a body he can't bury, a wife he can't please and a debt he can't pay.

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Crime Drama

A blue collar worker tries to cover things up when his stepson is killed in a suspicious accident, but a local reporter senses that something's amiss.A blue collar worker tries to cover things up when his stepson is killed in a suspicious accident, but a local reporter senses that something's amiss.A blue collar worker tries to cover things up when his stepson is killed in a suspicious accident, but a local reporter senses that something's amiss.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

13K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:23

Official Trailer

Photos106

+ 102

User reviews85

6.112.9K

Featured reviews

sjmd1156-1

Maybe I'm easily pleased, but then so's a lot of other people!

I was brought up thinking that a book had to have a story line packed full of memorable incidents, poems had to rhyme, and films were supposed to be full of action to be appreciated. I'm glad to say that I grew out of that 'please me quick' attitude. Yes if I'm in the mood for a dose of that I can gladly take it, but these days you are likely to overdose on that. I tend to seek films like this these days and I'm not at all disappointed. God's Pocket has been explained a few times already so I won't bother to do that. I'm just here to try and encourage others to enjoy this film for what it is, a great little offbeat film with tremendous characters, an everyday story of working people that takes a few twists and turns here and there, with a lovely dark streak running right through it. I for one loved it.

7blanbrn

An offbeat and dark drama that shows life is tough!

"God's Pocket" is an offbeat independent film that's dark and it shows that for many people and in many places life is tough and complex never being what it seems or is meant to be. The now late great Philip Seymour Hoffman is Mickey a tough wise guy on the mean streets of Philadelphia who earns his living with loans and collecting debts. His wife Jeanie(Christina Hendricks)is wise in top size even though she has a wandering eye! To make matters more complex Mickey's stepson Leon is killed one day at work they say an apparent accident that went wrong!? Then to make matters worse this film shows it's dark humor as to bury Leon has became a problem! Overall this film is dark, different and offbeat proving that life is tough and hard and tragic and it shows that many streets and towns are like "God's Pocket" as many people find themselves trapped in a closed up pocket.

6steveo122

Like a Bukowski poem set to music...

Like a Bukowski poem set to music and sung by Tom Waits, a rancid, deep dark comedy of errors in an urban hell. An amazing ensemble of great actors. Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, Richard Jenkins, Eddie Marsan and many more of some of the finest drunks and lowlifes you'll see on film. Christina Hendricks, unfortunately, is out of place and out-skilled. The script walks with a limp and probably has a disease.

7mark51153

Enjoyed the film

I enjoyed this film. It has excellent acting and character development. And there's never a dull moment. Sometimes seeing a dark, depressing, yet sprinkled with humor film uplifts the spirits. Not everyone will be able to appreciate what this film tries to do in its 1970s portrayal of blue collar life. It will be far too creative for many. I saw this film right after A rated Locke and enjoyed this film much more. This film gets bad reviews wherever I look. The popular film types of today get the good reviews, films that don't fit the molds get the bad reviews. It's not a superhero movie or a Disney film. If you want something different that works the mind, see this film.

7davidgee

Grim and grungy swansong from Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman's stepson's dead body is used, not in the best possible taste, as a comic prop, and Eddy Marsan does a funny turn as the undertaker who won't extend Mickey any credit. Turturro's wife runs a flower-shop and proves to be handy with a hand-gun. The comedy is mixed with rough sex scenes and more than one savage beating. As in Nicolas Cage's JOE, GOD'S POCKET delivers visceral violence in a beautifully shot movie with fine performances from its ensemble cast.

Despite the moments of comedy and the pleasingly upbeat coda, the overwhelming mood is grimness and grunge. But this is how people live in today's city slums (1980s Phildelphia looks pretty much the same in 2014), scratching a living, fighting off creditors, killing each other.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This is the last completed movie of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Goofs
Taking place in a Philadelphia blue collar neighborhood, the logo on the door of the police car is the actual one used in Philadelphia, as are the shoulder ID patches on the policeman's shirts, but the police car itself, as well as the breast, and hat badges, are obviously NOT of Philadelphia.

Quotes
Richard Shellburn: [writing] Until recently, you only had to die once in this city... even if you came from God's Pocket. There was a time when a 23-year-old working man could die once, have the event noticed in his local newspaper, and then move on to his reward without the complications of an additional death. Leon Hubbard's death was reported incorrectly by this newspaper last week. But, then, Leon Hubbard wasn't important.
Richard Shellburn: Leon Hubbard was like the other working people of God's Pocket: dirty-faced, uneducated, neat as a pin inside. They work, marry, and have children who inhabit the Pocket, often in the homes of their mothers and fathers. They drink at The Hollywood, or the Uptown Bar, little places deep in the city. And they argue there about things they don't understand... politics, race, religion. And in the end, they die like everyone else; leaving their families and their houses and their legends. And there is a dignity in that. We owe Leon Hubbard an apology, and all the people who knew him and loved him and worked with him. If we stop listening to Leon Hubbard's story and all the neighborhood stories like it, eventually the neighborhoods will stop listening to ours.

Connections
References Taxi Driver (1976)

Soundtracks
All Because of You
Written by Thomas Fletcher
Performed by Tee Fletcher
Courtesy of The Numero Group
By Arrangement with Bank Robber Music