By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Emile Hirsch | Gina Gershon | Juno Temple | Matthew McConaughey | Thomas Haden Church
Country: united_states
Year: 2012
Running time: 102
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1726669/
Jason says: “It happens to nearly every writer, musician, or film director who doesn’t die young: Because they never really retire, they’ll eventually have an unimpressive period that runs longer than even a long run of success. Take William Friedkin, for instance – he made some great movies from the early 1970s to mid-1980s, but it’s been a long time since, long enough for people to be a little surprised that he’s still alive and working. But he is, and his recent collaborations with playwright Tracy Letts have shown he still has something in the tank, with KILLER JOE a deliciously twisted black comedy that is great without context.
“Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is deep in debt to a local drug dealer, but thinks he has a solution – have his good-for-nothing mother killed. A $50,000 life insurance policy will go to his younger sister Dottie (Juno Temple); even after paying off ‘Killer Joe’ Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a Dallas police detective who moonlights as a hitman, and splitting the money three ways with Dottie and their father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), there should be more than enough to pay off his debt. There are a few hitches, though: Ansel’s second wife Sharla (Gina Gershon) wants in, and most importantly, Joe wants to be paid up front. After meeting Dottie (whose name is a generous assessment of her mental state), though, he may be willing to take a different sort of retainer.
“KILLER JOE opens on a casually sleazy note and settles into that tone pretty comfortably, seldom going for the mocking bit of shock value once things have been established but still having a great deal of fun at its redneck characters’ expense while presenting the attitudes as occasionally on the creepy side. It’s a carefully measured wallow, with Letts and Friedkin toeing an especially fine line in regard to how her family members treat Dottie.
“The movie frequently has the form of a thriller, and chooses its moments to twist the plot and crank the tension up, but at its heart it’s a dark, twisted comedy, with a great many jokes coming from how the cast of characters outside of Joe really isn’t that bright, and even he has his quirks and eccentricities. Letts gives his characters fun dialogue in big enough chunks that the story’s genesis as a stage play is never in doubt, but he and Friedkin seldom fall into the trap of having them talk about things that could easily be shown or making the characters more articulate than would seem believable.
“The cast is excellent across the board. Matthew McConaughey, especially, is fantastic in the title role, able to take the cool
intimidation he’s giving off when we first meet him and twist it into something different for when he’s sharing the screen with Juno Temple – still dominating and controlling, but also oddly fascinated by and enamored of her. Temple, for her part, makes Dottie into more than a collection of childish tics; she recognizes that there’s something off about her but isn’t particularly concerned about it. Emile Hirsch is an enjoyable screw-up, and Thomas Haden Church plays a truly fantastic dumb guy as the ineffective family patriarch. Gina Gershon continues to do trashy very well indeed.
“It’s Friedkin who is most indisputably at the top of his game, though, getting exactly the right tone for every scene and knowing which lines to cross as opposed to where to hold up. He and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel make really excellent use of Ansel’s trailer as a set; it’s a tight enough squeeze to make even handheld camerawork tricky – this may be the rare case where moving from stage to cinema gives a cast less room to maneuver – but it never feels claustrophobic or limiting until the filmmakers want it to. Inside the trailer and out, Friedkin knows when it’s time for a flourish and when it’s time for grit.
“Between this and the good reviews given Bug by those who saw it, it seems pretty clear that Friedkin and Letts make a very good team, and they certainly should work together again. KILLER JOE might not be the start of another great run for Friedkin, but it’s pretty great work for all involved. 4.5 cats
“Seen 31 July 2012 in Concordia University Theatre Hall (Fantasia 2012, DCP)”
Thom says: “Wow, this was totally unexpected. It would be way off the mark to claim I was a Friedkin fan as I wasn’t a big supporter of either THE FRENCH CONNECTION or THE EXORCIST and actively disliked CRUISING & JADE. He has made a spate of good films, like THE BOYS IN THE BAND, SORCERER, TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A. BLUE CHIPS. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, THE HUNTED, plus a superior adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter’s THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, And then at the age of 71 he hooked up with screenwriter Tracy Letts, a Pulitzer Prize winner, responsible for the scripts of the excellent BUG (2006) & now this superb effort & all of a sudden Friedkin has transformed into an auteur. If you can take this super violent effort with scenes of grotesque strangeness I felt like this was the new TOBACCO ROAD. The characters are all thoroughly repellent and it’s the genius of the screenplay, and the bottom-to-top greatness of the acting makes this fascinating from the first scene to the last. McConaughy, in his best Woody Harrelson imitation as a bad-ass contract killer cop, Hirsch, Gershon, Hayden Church, & Temple all give career-best performances. The complicated script which revolves around a trailer trash family of the worst order (son Chris (Hirsch) is dumber than a box of nails) that want to kill the mother who left the family a while ago, for a rich death insurance pay-off. Chris is also deep into debt with some very nasty criminals who beat him up for sport. So Chris somehow convinces his addled family to hire Joe Cooper (McConaughy) pending the insurance dividends. Of course no killer would except those terms but like Humbert Humbert espying LOLITA being the deciding factor of moving in with Charlotte Haze, Joe seeing Dottie (super UK hottie Temple) & falling instantly in love with the half-wit sister, makes him accept the insane proposal. What follows is one scene after another of the most blackest humor possible. Note there are many scenes of gratuitous nudity, in fact the 1st scene of Gina Gershon is of her beautiful bush. At 76 Friedkin has made his best film. 5 cats”
Jeff
says: “SPOILER!
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
“I was disappointed with KILLER JOE. I had let myself be led to believe that Joe’s interest in the young lady was avuncular. I think that would have made the movie more interesting. As it was, it ended up a pretty stock situation.”
Julie
says: “more SPOILERs! super duper SPOILERs!
“I would have agreed with this, and did think this as I watched, but then the ending could not have been what it was…..which certainly packed a punch …. I mean I had already figured out her situation but had no idea she’d react the way she did.”
Diane
says: “Boy, am I sorry I watched KILLER JOE. It was degrading and filthy. I presume it has artistic merit from the high marks given by other Chlotrudians, so I’ll refrain from grading it. I brought it to watch at my friends’ house (two guys). We were all revolted, and I was ashamed. Caveat spector.”
Toni responds: “Sorry, I actually found the humor in it…it’s an acquired taste for sure.”
Julie responds: “Yeah it’s a dark black comedy for sure and I guess we should make sure to let members in the future know about nc-17 & up type content-or some sort of warning akin to ‘you may want to see it alone before recommending to friends…’
“Funny as Matt M himself was disgusted by the script the first time he read it and his agent had to explain to him it was funny… (I think it was his agent?)
“I know that Ned warned me about an act of aggression I wouldn’t like at all in TYRANNOSAUR and I appreciated that and was somewhat more prepared ….(still had to skip a small section first viewing)…
“The fact I’d seen BULLHEAD and TYRANNOSAUR right before KILLER JOE led me to my comment that it was the least disturbing of the three which I still agree with, but the first two had some extremely disturbing elements. More so than almost any movie I’ve ever seen. Other than DOGTOOTH…which is right up there at the top”