Review of The Counselor (2013) by Ellie P — 30 Jun 2014

This is a good movie... unpleasant, yes, but good. We are a society obsessed with the glamorous playboy lifestyle of drug trafficking; this film, however, mercilessly strips away the glamour and leaves us with nothing but the grim reality of the criminal underworld. It is very verbose and poetic: lots of metaphors intended to send a message that has clearly escaped most movie critics.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the low rating is mostly due to the lack of male-dominated sexuality. No one likes to watch a close-up of a woman's face while receiving orgasmic oral sex or masturbating on a windshield. Female sexuality is tolerated only so long as it is packaged for male consumption, and in this film, both sex scenes depict two women in complete control, albeit in very different ways, of their own sexuality.

This also raises the question of whether critics were perhaps put off by Cameron Diaz's unexpected portrayal of a mercilessly cold-blooded, intelligent, powerful, woman. Our society is simply not accustomed to watching movies in which a woman "wins" and completely dominates her male peers in the end thanks to her own cunning and criminal prowess. Female criminal masterminds are as yet an unknown species which puts this film lightyears ahead of its time and has served only to alienate critics and audiences alike. This is, after all, still very much a man's world and this film does nothing to stroke the male ego.