Hoffmann's character

I was just thinking about this. The only thing I could think of from a structural pout of view, would be that his presence allows for commentary on Monty's predicament together with Pepper's character. Also, him being around sort of takes 'intimacy' out of Norton and Pepper's scenes together. His interest in his student seems out of place - actually I found the film a bit all over the place, generally, with all its threads and stylised 'movements' and cartoon gangsters etc. Yes, I'm sure that a lot of all of what I'm referring to as probelmatic was in the novel, but that's neither here nor there. The only thing that made me go back for a second viewing was Pepper's compelling rendering of his seemingly less than interesting character - damned good performance.

Manton

If to stand pat means to resist evil then, yes, neighbour, we wish to stand pat.

maybe trying to point out that all kinds of crimes are committed with no consiquence, ie jacob and student, barry pepper defrauding foreign govt, father taking loans off of russians, but montys is the only one going to jail, ie street crime/minority crimes

1). As others have said, the subplot with the student shows that everyone is capable of committing crime. So what makes Monty so much worse; why does Monty deserve 7 years for drugs when Jacob just kissed a child? The movie contains a clear commentary about crime.

2). Jacob is an overall good dude. He is an English teacher. His presence shows that Monty could have surrounded himself with good people, like Jacob, instead of bad people, like the Russians. Remember Jacob and Frank (while watching Ground Zero), say, "I can't believe he invited us to this ... We hardly see Monty nowadays." The father at the diner also says, "I miss those boys" in reference to Frank and Jacob. The point, again, is that Monty started to spend more time with the Russians instead of his good friends, like Jacob. The movie's fundamental message is that Monty could have done better; he screwed it up. He should've stuck close with Jacob & Frank.

3). Having Frank, Naturelle, and the dad alone just seems a little lonely. One more friend (Jacob) helped round out the group.