“Out here, if you catch a man with his pants down, you apologize…”
They say that the longer you watch films for review purposes the more of a cynic you become, having seen it all before. Certainly when it comes to blockbusters these days, nearly every set piece and high concept pitch seems slightly tired and familiar to this jaded viewer.
However in recent years, films that have an element of shock value to them are films that I am still genuinely shocked by.
A recent example was Lars Von Trier’s ‘Antichrist’, which after seeing I met up with a friend and he asked me if I was okay as I looked a little pale and unsettled! More of the reasons why later…
‘The Killer Inside Me’ is another film I found genuinely shocking, something that came as a surprise as I’m a fan of Michael Winterbottom (and have interviewed him in the past) and I expect slick modern thrillers with a semi A-list cast to be relatively tame, even allowing for the excesses of the increasingly unmemorable Hannibal Lecter sequels.
This film is an adaptation of a novel by Jim Thompson (whose novel ‘The Grifters’ was the basis for one of the 90s’ most underrated thrillers, starring John Cusack and Anjelica Huston) and concerns a psychotic small town Sheriff who murders women with the aim of framing innocent people for his crimes.
The Sheriff, Lou Ford, is played by Casey Affleck, showing his continuing verisimilitude as an actor and someone who has the potential to eclipse his brother’s career, at least in terms of critical if not box office success. Affleck’s casting makes the character likable even when he commits horrific acts such as beating to death his girlfriend – played by Jessica Alba – and later his wife – played by Kate Hudson – but the aspect of this film that makes it much more uncomfortable to watch, compared to similar thrillers with murderous leads, is that the filmmakers and the victims seem complicit in the character’s enjoyment and dismal of his actions.
If a character is displayed on screen as enjoying the act of murder with little emotional investment in his crimes, then you accept them as a fictional psychopath and the audience’s vicarious enjoyment of their crimes varies depending on how entertaining or endearing other aspects of the portrayal are – for example the aforementioned Hannibal Lecter who kills with a sardonic quip and an intellectual bon mot.
However when the director chooses to linger on the continuing effects of the murder as it takes place – punch, after bloody punch, after bloody punch as latex and gore are added to the victim’s face and then they keep repeating ‘I love you’ to the man murdering them, there’s something very disturbing going on.
Several other critics have accused Winterbottom of misogyny in the making of this film, which he has countered with the notion that Affleck’s character is an unreliable narrator and therefore we shouldn’t take anything at face value.
The problem, beyond the seeming enjoyment of the filmmakers in showing dying women on screen in lurid detail, is that this aspect of the narrative isn’t made clear enough.
There isn’t enough evidence or juxtapositional storytelling from other points of view to discount the idea that this is a film that presents vulnerable women as enjoying their masochistic relationships with an abusive man and their own brutal murders.
In every other aspect the film is very well made: it has an excellent cast including Simon Baker doing his ‘Mentalist’ schtick on the big screen and a welcome cameo by Bill Pullman, it has great cinematography, editing and an atmospheric score.
I can’t therefore dismiss this as a ‘bad film’, however it is a film that is morally repugnant and so offensive that it makes me want to re-evaluate Winterbottom’s back catalogue to see if there are clues in his other films that suggest a repellent theme throughout his work – certainly the sexual politics in ‘Code 46’ and voyeurism in ‘9 Songs’ seem skewed towards debasing their female characters.
If the director intended this film to shock people in the abhorrence of violence against women, he’s completely failed in that task as while it is shocking and horrific to watch, the film does anything but vilify the lead character’s actions, but rather allows him to present himself as the romantic hero who should be allowed to get away with murder, because he just so charming and cool.
Like I said, I left Von Trier’s ‘Antichrist’ shaken by the horrific acts presented on screen and he also is a director who has been accused of mysogyny due to the masochistsic travails he puts his female characters and actors through on screen. However on its most basic level, a film like ‘Antichrist’ is aware of its own absurdity and encourages the audience to laugh at how ridiculous its scenarios are, even when presenting traumatic events in a beautiful way. It is also a film designed to appeal to the art-house crowd.
‘The Killer Inside Me’ on the other hand, is aimed at younger audiences who follow the careers of beautiful actress like Alba and a film that unforgivably seems to legitimise their degradation on screen is completely unacceptable.
Normally if a film has questionable or difficult elements that are likely to divide an audience I’d still suggest people go and see it. But with a film this morally abhorrent, I’m genuinely asking people to avoid it at all costs and if they have any friends who were considering a trip to the cinema or eventual DVD purchase to see the film, ask them to please, please spend their money elsewhere.
