Quickflix - Killer Joe Review by Simon Miraudo
Their first crime was being stupid - Killer Joe review
Juno Temple as Dottie and Matthew McConaughey as Joe. Click on the 'Play' button above to watch the trailer for Killer Joe.
Thomas Haden Church as Ansel, Matthew McConaughey as Joe, and Gina Gershon as Sharla.
A lot happens over the course of Killer Joe, as you may have likely assumed with this many moving pieces in play. However, two key sequences are likely to scorch themselves in your mind. The first is Dottie's "date" with Joe. Juno Temple is remarkably fragile and unusual in this, with her innocence masking darker traits either genetically passed on from her morally decrepit family, or fostered by years of abuse. Even more impressive is McConaughey, who deploys his charm as a blistering, terrifying weapon. Watching Joe slowly, sweetly, and then insistently toy with Dottie is harrowing stuff, only topped by the other memorable movie moment, in which he interrogates Ansel's cheating wife Sharla (Gina Gershon) as to the whereabouts of his money. Seeing that veneer of restraint stripped away from McConaughey like so much fried chicken skin is deeply unsettling. In the final moments, he charges around the Smiths' trailer like a prowling animal, torturing them in ways that I couldn't possibly write here (and in ways that I've never seen before). Though the movie carries the unmistakable mark of having been formerly a play - fewer scenes/longer scenes than in the usual fare - it has been lovingly and gorgeously adapted, whilst still maintaining that visceral, invasive, immersive, and inescapable sensation of seeing the horror unfold live. Make-up indicating bruises, blood stains, and greasy leftovers are smeared in such a manner that is almost beautiful, and certainly disgusting. Much of the movie's look reminded me of Twin Peaks, and it was only a mild surprise to learn that Caleb Deschanel (who photographed several notable episodes) was the cinematographer here. Stage-to-screen adaptations are rarely this primal, and it's been a long time since a William Friedkin film has felt so vital.
Quickflix - Killer Joe Review by Simon Miraudo
Their first crime was being stupid - Killer Joe review
Juno Temple as Dottie and Matthew McConaughey as Joe. Click on the 'Play' button above to watch the trailer for Killer Joe.
Thomas Haden Church as Ansel, Matthew McConaughey as Joe, and Gina Gershon as Sharla.
A lot happens over the course of Killer Joe, as you may have likely assumed with this many moving pieces in play. However, two key sequences are likely to scorch themselves in your mind. The first is Dottie's "date" with Joe. Juno Temple is remarkably fragile and unusual in this, with her innocence masking darker traits either genetically passed on from her morally decrepit family, or fostered by years of abuse. Even more impressive is McConaughey, who deploys his charm as a blistering, terrifying weapon. Watching Joe slowly, sweetly, and then insistently toy with Dottie is harrowing stuff, only topped by the other memorable movie moment, in which he interrogates Ansel's cheating wife Sharla (Gina Gershon) as to the whereabouts of his mone
y. Seeing that veneer of restraint stripped away from McConaughey like so much fried chicken skin is deeply unsettling. In the final moments, he charges around the Smiths' trailer like a prowling animal, torturing them in ways that I couldn't possibly write here (and in ways that I've never seen before). Though the movie carries the unmistakable mark of having been formerly a play - fewer scenes/longer scenes than in the usual fare - it has been lovingly and gorgeously adapted, whilst still maintaining that visceral, invasive, immersive, and inescapable sensation of seeing the horror unfold live. Make-up indicating bruises, blood stains, and greasy leftovers are smeared in such a manner that is almost beautiful, and certainly disgusting. Much of the movie's look reminded me of Twin Peaks, and it was only a mild surprise to learn that Caleb Deschanel (who photographed several notable episodes) was the cinematographer here. Stage-to-screen adaptations are rarely this primal, and it's been a long time since a William Friedkin film has felt so vital.