Crime,
deceit, and fried chicken with white trash in Texas. 'Killer Joe'
combines the odd characters and winding story of Coen brothers films
with the rough smart dialogue of a Tarantino picture, without quite
matching the level of the classics of either director.
It's
basically about a father, his girlfriend, his virginal daughter (who
always seems to understand and is off in some special creepy kind of
a way, but whom no one ever really listens too), dumbass young Jack
Black-looking brother, and a charismatic somewhat scary stranger (an
early role for Matthew McConaughey). There's also a mother, but I
like how we never see her, we just hear about what a shit she is all
the time. The films focus is more on the changing hearts of the two
kids.
It's
slow to get started, but once it does there are excellent twists in
tone, without it being irritatingly jarring or confusing. They're
often more like the tension shifts of 'Goodfellas' or Tarantino's
better films.
I
really liked most aspects of this movie. The characters (well cast,
acting was pretty solid throughout and fantastic as far as McConaughey goes),
dialogue and plot, but I wasn't a fan of much of the cinematography.
'Killer Joe' was adapted from a play, and you can totally tell.
There's a lot of talking, which I don't count as a bad thing, but
it's in the lighting and camera that I think it could be improved.
Each scene feels very much like a Scene, with the camera not only
never crossing the line of action, but rarely doing anything
particularly imaginative, and the lighting kinda feeling like stage
lighting, with simplistic spots or basic ambients used mostly. It
doesn't make the film no fun to watch, but it did break my immersion,
as I kept getting reminded that this was a play. 'The Lord of the
Rings' doesn't have a narrators voice endlessly describing the
mountains etc, so why not have a little imagination in the conversion
from theatre to film too?
Overall
a good movie though. The points I have against it I feel that many
wouldn't be that fussed about, and there's a lot to like here (though
maybe lay off the KFC while watching).
Killer Joe: 69.6