Killer Joe:All the damn critics said that this is a gloriously sleazy piece of work from director William Friedkin (The Exorcist), showing that he still has 'it' in him. Killer Joe, based on a play by Tracy Letts who also wrote the film, brings a new definition to the term 'dysfunctional family.' The plot surrounds this redneck unit consisting of Ansel, played by Thomas Hayden Church, Chris, his son played by Emile Hirsch, his daughter Dottie (Juno Temple), and their slutty stepmom Sharla (Gina Gershon). Ansel and Chris get the idea to hire a hit man to kill his mom in order to get the insurance money and contract a dirty Dallas cop named Killer Joe, played devilishly by Matthew McConaughey, to get the job done.
Being a huge horror fan I can usually find some entertainment in darkly comic subject matter, but this I felt stepped over a line. Just something about it felt too exploitative for comfort. Maybe that's the point, but personally I couldn't enjoy this. Juno Temple plays a character that is underaged, and often shows full frontal nudity for no reason, with the camera always leering at her butt in her shorts. The last 15-20 minute extended scene goes completely over the top into 'what the fuck did I just watch' territory; aside from some of the interesting ideas and boundary-pushing depictions of luridness (it totally earns its NC-17 rating), I found Killer Joe to lack anything meaningful behind the carnage.
Rating: C-
Another one of those movies I knew nothing about beforehand. This is a documentary told very similarly to an episode of Dateline, with talking heads and actors' reenactments, only told more cinematically (I guess more like The Thin Blue Line). Like Compliance, the less you know about this going in the better, and also like Compliance, it will definitely make you think. I absolutely loved this, it's an incredible story told from a unique perspective; hard to imagine it wouldn't make my top ten at the end of the year.
Rating: A
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