God's Pocket (2014)
(John Slattery, US 2014, 88 min., DCP)
Hoffman is brilliant as Mickey Scarpato, a husband and stepfather in the hardscrabble Philadelphia neighborhood of God’s Pocket. When Mickey’s stepson, Leon (Caleb Landry Jones), is killed on the job, Mickey has to find the money to have the boy buried. But Mickey’s wife, Jeanie (Christina Hendricks), suspects foul play and enlists journalist Richard Shellburn (Richard Jenkins) to help investigate. Balancing the wishes of his wife and the expectations of the neighborhood, finances with debts, and the future with the past, Mickey walks a fine moral line as he tries to bring his life some peace. Television icon John Slattery (Mad Men) handles a difficult tone while directing a deep cast that also includes John Turturro and Eddie Marsan.
The Philip Seymour Hoffman film series is supported by James Declan Tobin on behalf of the Sumner Roy Kates Charitable Trust.