Review of Killer Joe (2012) by Tyler P — 26 Jun 2014

William Friedkin's "Killer Joe" is one hell of a film. It's a cruel, dark, twisted, filthy and perverse black comedy and a definitive love-it-or-hate-it experience. For once it is completely understandable if people walk out of the theater before the film ends. This is not a film you go watch on a date; if you do, that date is ruined. Even Quentin Tarantino's films are child's play compared to this carnage.

The film tells about the Smith family, consisting of the son Chris, his younger sister Dottie, their father Ansel and stepmother Sharla. Chris owes a considerable amount of money to loan sharks. To get the money, he invents a simple plan; if their mother gets killed, the family gets 50 000 dollars of insurance money. To do the dirty work, Chris and Ansel hire a police detective Joe "Killer Joe" Cooper, who also works as a contract killer. Since Chris and Ansel are unable to pay him in advance, Joe takes Dottie as a "retainer" until he gets the money. And then things start truly biting the dust.

The first scene already sets the tone of the film; Chris is out in the rain, banging on the door of the family's trailer and shouting for someone to open it. The door opens, and what do we see? Sharla's pubic hair. Okay. This is not going to be a pleasant story. Even before 10 minutes have passed, we've seen Dottie completely naked, visited a strip bar and seen drugs being used. And that is only the beginning.

Killer Joe has many similar elements as Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" of the same year. They are both crude films that don't want to please audiences, and which stare deep into the abyss of humankind. But where Dominik's vision was more stylized and angular and the film had a slightly (very slightly) lighter tone, Friedkin's vision is completely joyless and inconsolable, rather hostile. The film's atmosphere is utterly oppressive and disturbing.

The most notable similarity between the films is the characters, who are all deeply unpleasant in both. The Smith family represents the deepest and dirtiest of white trash; none of them are intelligent, charming or even likable. They are all stupid, selfish, nasty, swinish and greedy idiots, who don't have even a primitive understanding of morality, and Joe is a cunning, nasty prick who ruthlessly makes use of them. Because the characters are almost impossible to care about, the audience knows that the story is not going have a happy ending. It's no wonder that the film received a nomination for worst male and female images from the Women Film Critics Circle.

Another similarity with Dominik's film is the environment it depicts. Caleb Deschanel's camera shoots America that is full of boring streets, grim alleys and shabby apartments. The night's are dark and stormy, and when the TV is on, it plays only a program about monster trucks (until Joe smashes the TV to the floor). Every ounce of glamour is conspicuous by its absence. There is nothing but ugliness.

Like Killing Them Softly, in Killer Joe the most refreshing thing is also how flagrant, raunchy and politically incorrect it is. The film has been marketed as a black comedy, but the humor is so pitch-black that many people may not find anything funny from the macabre situations the characters get into. Neither the film is afraid of violence; whether it's Chris being brutally beaten up by the people he owes money to, or Joe cramming a piece of chicken into Sharla's throat in the form of oral sex, it is all shockingly repulsive. Friedkin may sometimes prefer cruelty and shock values over substance, but at 77 years old, he is one of those directors who don't really seem to care about the opinions of others.

Despite all the conspicuous and attention-stealing asperity, nihilism and violence, deep down Killer Joe is a study about the perversion and depravity of The American Dream. The film paints a grim and merciless picture of American community, where everyone is seeking profit in a way or another. The character of Killer Joe can also be seen as the embodiment of treacherous market economy; like some giant bank, he follows the inexorable business logic. He demands his payment even if it destroys the loaners, and listens to no explanations and excuses. While these pathetic people chase for profit, they also completely forget how their actions mutilate the world around them; Dottie begins as the most innocent and blissfully ignorant of the characters (though even she agrees with the idea of killing their mother), but the events around her she witnesses force even her end up to horrible solutions.

The strength of Killer Joe is also its weakness. Friedkin clearly knows what he's doing, but sometimes he still goes too far with the cruelty and not far enough with the dark humor. The film's brutality is exaggerated, no matter how hilarious some may find it.

Killer Joe is full of great performances. Matthew McConaughey's performance as Killer Joe is simply transcendent, playing him with slimy charisma and making the character completely his own. He is completely on another level here after the numerous romantic comedies, and gives an Oscar-worthy performance. Thomas Haden Church is in one of his greatest roles since "Sideways", Gina Gershon gives a very brave and scenery-chewing performance, and Juno Temple makes Dottie a delightfully cute and frighteningly disturbing character at the same time. The weakest performance comes from Emile Hirsch as Chris. He's not bad at all, but plays the character as a one-dimensional loser which makes him quite boring.

Killer Joe is a great black comedy that will have people laughing their heads off, feeling sick, shutting their eyes, walking out of the theater and being totally baffled. The film is nihilistic, disturbing, cruel, violent and truly insane, but out of all the doom and gloom there is always something awry funny to find. The film is based on a play by Tracy Letts, and I can't help but think what kind of experience it might have been on stage. If nothing else, this is at least a film which you won't immediately forget. After all it is so foul that after seeing it you need to take a shower.