Saw with wife. âSouthern Noirâ, a âTotally Twisted Deep-Fried Texas Redneck Trailer Park Murder Storyâ according to its poster. It was as advertized.
Sad, unsettling, disturbing, funny, in that order. We griamced a lot but could not look away. Based on a 1993 play which I would now love to see. Had a scene that was so over the top and contrived, I could see nothing but a desperation to register it into the canon of âiconicâ movie scenes.
Matthew McConaughey acts with the âMatthew McConaugheyâ dial set to medium-high (with the exception of that one scene.) Juno Temple is so brilliant you canât tell sheâs British. I wish I could say âinnocentâ but none of the characters are.
And there isnât a single sympathetic character. Except McConaugheyâs, theyâre all comically, irredeemably greedy and broken and dumb as shit.
William Friedkinâs âKiller Joeâ is one hell of a movie. It left me speechless. I canât say I loved it. I canât say I hated it. It is expertly directed, flawlessly cast and written with merciless black humor by Tracy Letts. Itâs about the Smiths, the stupidest family Iâve ever seen in a movie thatâs not a comedy.
The Smiths live in a trailer that is apparently somewhere near Dallas, although we never see a street or a skyline suggesting the city. Our clue is the Dallas police car used by Killer Joe. Whoever painted it must have known where he was. Killer Joe is not stupid, but he makes the mistake of never realizing just how dumb the Smiths are.
This is like âHereditaryâ in that itâs brilliant and I wonât ever watch it again but will gleefully recommend it to people.