When private eye Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) is killed, his friend Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) must unravel the mystery around his death.

Edward Norton’s first film as director, Keeping the Faith was released nineteen years ago and was a romantic comedy about a priest and a rabbi. His second, which is also his first as a credited screenwriter could not be further away from that first feature. Set in the 1950’s, it features a Tourette’s afflicted private eye trying to untangle a possible corruption scandal related to land. The elevator pitch could have been Rain Man meets Chinatown. But as glib as that might sound Norton misses greatness by a small margin.

The mystery at the centre of the story unravels at a satisfying pace with Lionel doing real detective work that makes his breakthroughs feel earned. The underlying message about power being something that resonates in our current times. The film also features good performances from an eclectic cast of well known faces, a fantastic period setting and a beautiful jazz based soundtrack with an original song from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. The latter is a beauty to behold but I’m biased as a lifelong fan of their music.

But for all those positives it doesn’t always soar. It feels a little rough around the edges as though it originally lived at a longer running time whilst the likes of Alec Baldwin and Willem Defoe seem to be grandstanding a little too much.

I really enjoyed my time with Motherless Brooklyn though and I hope it’s stock rises in time.