Killer Joe

Famed director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) returns to fine form. Killer Joe, directed by Friedlkin and based on a Tracy Letts story/screenplay, is a fine rendition of the old player getting played murder plot. A vignette of white trash playing out some worst case scenarios with, thankfully, much more photogenic role-players.

The film hangs on the roles of three central characters. The protagonist is a twenty-ish down and out loser named Chris played by Emile Hirsch. Hirsch brings a much grittier less Bohemian Johnny Depp to the table and it works here. His character is smart enough to know he's in deep and empty enough to unwittingly dig his hole ever deeper. His younger sister, Dottie, played by Juno Temple is an extremely unique character. She's both high functioning and almost mentally deficient in her total naiveté' which we are led to think is a mental quirk. She exudes a kind a helplessness with natural beauty that can draw one in. Juno Temple, a relatively new face to American audiences, is quite effective in her portrayal of this integral character. Finally, Matthew McConaughey is perfect in what is actually a supporting role in spite of being the the title character, Killer Joe. McConaughey is in his best element where he is reined in from Hollywood bombast instead dripping with a sleazy lawman/killer persona. These three characters are this movie aptly supported by Gershon's conniving Sharla and Thomas Hayden Church's witless Ansel.

Killer Joe has a down and dirty indie feel which is totally right. The cinematography is immediate and not artsy in any way as if you are clearly seeing something you wish wasn't happening. The final quarter ramps up with a tour 'de force of the macabre supplied by McConaughey's character and taken home with a kind of surprise loose-end "wham-bam" finale. All in all, this really works and separates itself from more typical murder stories, recommended.

You will have to look hard and long for a film that's as quirky as Killer Joe. William Friedkin must have been inspired by the equally quirky Fargo in doing this film.

Both films are about people who get into criminal enterprises that really don't have the talent. Bill Macy decides that good way out of his financial difficulty is to arrange to have his wife kidnapped and his rich father-in-law extorted for the ransom in Fargo. In Killer Joe, young Emile Hirsch goes into the drug dealing business and owes some big bucks to some nasty people. So a quick way to some ready cash is to kill his mother and get her insurance policy via the backdoor as his sister Juno Temple is the beneficiary.

Major difference between Fargo and Killer Joe is that Macy and his family are good middle class Minnesotans. Hirsch, Temple, their father Thomas Haden Church and his second wife Gina Gershon are Texas lowlife trailer park trash. The first wife, the mother of Hirsch and Temple is Julia Adams and truth be told no one is really going to mourn the passing of this one in any event.

Hirsch even has a hit man picked out. It's Matthew McConaughey who is a Dallas police detective and doubles as a hit man on the side. He's both mysterious and dangerous and gradually inserts himself into their family group, especially since he demands as a retainer the nubile body of Juno Temple in lieu of the cash they don't have until a settlement comes forth.

Just like Fargo everything and anything that can go wrong does with this foolproof scheme thought of by a fool. If I had to single anyone out in the cast it's Emile Hirsch who is a degenerate and a lowlife, but still you feel a bit of sympathy for him because he's so pathetically dumb. And McConaughey in the title role will also make you take notice.

Killer Joe while not as good as Fargo is still good enough to savor. I agree with another reviewer who says you will either like it or hate it, but won't be indifferent.

Texan drug-dealer Chris (Emile Hirsch) lands himself in hot water, owing money to a gang of big-time criminals. After being refused money by his father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church), Chris comes up with a plot to have his mother murdered, collecting the life insurance money that he believes will pass to his sister Dottie (Juno Temple). To do the deed, they hire police detective and part-time contract killer 'Killer' Joe (Matthew McConaughey). Unable to pay his fees up front, Joe decides to take Dottie as collateral, who he asks to spend the night with, until the debt is paid.

Killer Joe's poster tagline reads 'A totally twisted, deep-fried, Texas redneck trailer park murder story', and really, that's precisely what it is. The central families sheer utter repulsiveness becomes the comedy vein that prevails throughout the plot, as we are greeted by Sharla (Gina Gershon), Ansel's second wife, opening her trailer door to reveal her hairy bush to a disgusted Chris. But Chris's loud-mouthed ineptness, Ansel's zombie-like idiocy, and Sharla's blatant man-eating are neutralised by Juno Temple's strange, quirky presence, and her submissive relationship with Killer Joe that is as unsettling as it is oddly sweet. It's a quite amazing performance, and her scenes with an almost equally impressive McConaughey provide the film's highlights.

If the film has a definite strong point, it is in the performances. While the aforementioned Temple and McConaughey will steal the plaudits, Haden Church's dumb, lurch-like performance reminds us why he was Oscar- nominated for the sublime Sideways (2004), providing a sympathetic character amongst Chris's waster and Sharla's trailer trash whore. It's a shame that the plot can't match the performances, and although the story takes a back-seat to the mish-mash of human monsters, this really could have been a whole lot more. This is Coen Brothers territory, taking place in that sweaty world of the Deep South, full of smoky bars, rusty trailers, cowboy hats, motorbikes and overweight, middle-aged men in vests, a modern-day noir world ripe with possibilities, one that I feel has been slightly wasted here.

But if you've ever wondered if a film's climatic scene would ever involved a woman performing fellatio on a chicken drumstick, then here is your answer. Killer Joe's final frames will undoubtedly divide audiences between those who get director William Friedkin's intentions to take things to Jacobian absurdity, to those who will feel it as a silly contradiction to the film early, more subtle black humour. It's a splurge of extreme, uncomfortable violence with a sprinkling of farce, as the true psychological unbalance of Killer Joe becomes evident. Myself, I found it rather hilarious, and it managed to cement what is really an average film with only spatters of inspiration into my memory.

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This movie is that. You wanna see what's there. When you see what's there, you wanna look away....but you can't. Having said that, I enjoyed it. Messed up, but entertaining.

Just off watching this last night at TIFF 2011, I am still reeling from what I actually witnessed on the screen.

First of all, where has Gina Gershon been?? Her character was so believable in this, I almost forgot she was in Showgirls :)

I could say the same thing about nearly every other character as well. They all have such subtle personalities, it seems as though they are playing themselves.

As for the plot, it is somewhat standard fare, as the trailer could easily giveaway, however it's how it progresses and pans out, is the most interesting aspect of the film.

There are a few scenes which some will find very hard to watch (in fact, during one now-notorious scene, dozens of people left the screening I was at), but if you stick with them, you will be in for a... treat? I'm not so sure, but you will have never seen anything like it, nor will you.

For the cast's performances alone, I highly recommend this film, but if you are feint of heart, or become queasy at the site of blood, maybe skip it.