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| I will never look at chicken wings the same... |
Last week I had the unpleasantly pleasant pleasure of watching "Killer Joe". Starring big screen and stage actors like Thomas Haden Church (Easy A, Wings, and Oscar nominee of Sideways), Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild and Lone Survivor), Juno Temple (Atonement), Gina Gershon (Bound and Showgirls), and - alright alright alright - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club: Golden Globe recipient and Oscar nominee), this depiction of a decrepit Texas family will take you for the ride of your life.
For those of you who are not familiar, Chris Smith (Hirsch) is a 22-year-old drug dealer who digs himself into a financial pit with loan sharks. After an altercation with his mother's boyfriend, Rex, Chris finds out that there is a $50,000 life insurance policy on his mother made out to younger sister, Dottie (Temple). In the hopes of paying off his debtors and pocketing the rest, he consults his biological father Ansel Smith (Haden Church) about the possibility of hiring a cop and part-time hit-man by the alias, Killer Joe (McConaughey). To rap this up, they can't pay Joe up front so he decides to use Dottie as a "retainer" (if you know what I mean) and SPOILERS: they find out the insurance policy was really made out to Rex (dun…dun…DUN!). Yada yada yada Killer Joe is pissed yada yada yada things with chicken yada yada the end.
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| But really you don't want to know about the chicken |
To be frank, I really cannot describe this movie. It's discussing, crude, horrifying…and I loved it. Here's 3 reasons why:
1. You will never have one opinion on each character: For Killer Joe being his first play, Tracy Letts really knew what he was doing. Most plays crumble at the seems with too many intertwining plots. Tracy Letts, however, does it with the grace and agility of an Olympic Figure Skater (he's the Meryl Davis and Charlie White of playwrights). You can compare Letts' characters to other American playwights like Williams, O'Neil, and Kushner - who are also masters of character development - but none give you such a shift in opinion as an audience member like Tracy. Of course you can argue this until your blue in the face, but the "shock" factor is something that really sold me. Letts' characters are not only multi-layered, but dirty and cynical in the worst way. They will literally do everything they NEED (key word people) to in order to get what they want.
The true colors of Letts' characters are so beautifully choreographed with the rising plot. For me, I went from thinking McConaughey's character was the most sane to the most insane. I went from thinking Dottie was the weakest and the dumbest to the smartest and bravest. Sharla went form a sassy, nurturing step-mother to a two-faced whore and Chris went from a nuisance to the person I sympathized with the most. I was so engrossed in what was happening in front of me that I neglected to make any predictions throughout the movie (something that is difficult to get me to do since I don't "watch" movies as much as I "observe" them). I honestly do not think that such a difficult piece could have been done without an incredibly solid cast of actors. I thought for a long time that Matthew didn't have what it took to step out of his "pretty-boy" niche and into something real until I saw this movie. I tip my hats to those actors and their staminas.
SIDE NOTE: Gina Gershon was originally offered the Broadway spot of Sharla Smith, but turned it down since she didn't want to do the infamous "chicken wing" scene night after night for 6 weeks (seriously who could blame her).
2. Watching a Tracy Letts play is like watching a slight-of-hand magic show: Like I said before, Letts does a fantastic job of juggling 5-6 different character plots in one play. The most important thing to remember is that Letts is not reinventing the wheel. Similar to Shakespeare, Letts pulls and steals from every plot devise ever used and then molds it into something unique. He is an illusionist on paper; which makes me all the more interested in him.
The true colors of Letts' characters are so beautifully choreographed with the rising plot. For me, I went from thinking McConaughey's character was the most sane to the most insane. I went from thinking Dottie was the weakest and the dumbest to the smartest and bravest. Sharla went form a sassy, nurturing step-mother to a two-faced whore and Chris went from a nuisance to the person I sympathized with the most. I was so engrossed in what was happening in front of me that I neglected to make any predictions throughout the movie (something that is difficult to get me to do since I don't "watch" movies as much as I "observe" them). I honestly do not think that such a difficult piece could have been done without an incredibly solid cast of actors. I thought for a long time that Matthew didn't have what it took to step out of his "pretty-boy" niche and into something real until I saw this movie. I tip my hats to those actors and their staminas.
SIDE NOTE: Gina Gershon was originally offered the Broadway spot of Sharla Smith, but turned it down since she didn't want to do the infamous "chicken wing" scene night after night for 6 weeks (seriously who could blame her).
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| Just eat the chicken. It'll all be over soon. |
SPOILER ON HORIZON, CAPTAIN: Right about at the scene where Killer Joe is doing the no pants dance with Dottie is when the audience should go, "Hmmm…well…this guy is clearly insane." The degree of his insanity only gets pushed farther and farther passed conventional lines as the movie goes on. What makes his actions so shocking is that his level headedness is never consistent. He could walk into the room and be kindest man with sun shine in his smile to the most horrific, satanic creature capable of all of the world's evil. It's almost as if we're discovering his insanity all over again with each scene. Not to mention Dottie's huge shift. Dottie is practically a ticking time-bomb but we never see it. She is so incredibly smart that she knows exactly when to show her hand (in the last 10 minutes of the movie). She lets everyone believe they're playing her like an upright base and then BAMB! She unloads a bucket of crazy and taking on the role as the most powerful character in the play. SPOILERS OVER! (for now)
In short, Letts' characters are never what they seem. I suppose you can say that many writers are capable of this, but Letts - in my humble opinion - is one of the most successful. That's what makes his plots seem so "new". The character's discoveries are not made known to the audience until they need to use that information against the other characters. Nobody lets on. Another perfect example is when (SPOILERS AGAIN) Violet Weston in August: Osage County finally admits that she knows her husband had an affair with her sister. What makes that news so shocking is that she hides her hand, puts on her best poker face, and then spills the beans when it will be to her advantage. Letts does a great job at keeping his characters unpredictable.
3. The stage to screen translation: It's one thing to see this play on stage (which I would love to see one day) but it's another to capture that same essence on the big screen. With Tracy Letts' screenplay and the direction of William Friedkin, this movie was able to achieve great success. What was most important to Letts was capturing the dark humor and the language of the piece. What was most important to Friedkin was making sure the actors felt comfortable enough to be fearless with these characters (if you don't have a stomach then you're going to have a really bad time). It was a combination of the actors putting the soul into the characters, Letts providing the humanity in his writing, and Friedkin investing in building the reality of the environment that made this project work. Even with their best efforts, the translation on the screen could have been completely lost. Thanks to their brilliant teamwork, it wasn't. Here's a couple of my favorite lines:
JOE: I mean all she did was suck his cock and try and steal your money. It could have been worse.
ANSEL: How?
JOE: Well... no, I suppose that's about as bad as it gets.
CHRIS: Open the door!
SHARLA: (answers the door naked) What?!
CHRIS: Jesus, put some clothes on! The whole neighborhood can see. Why would you answer the door like that?
SHARLA: I didn't know it was you.
Letts helped us see that these characters are real people; relatable people that we can laugh at and sympathize with even in the most extreme circumstances. I also enjoyed how it felt as though I was watching a staged performance. The themes, tempo, and consistency in the language were honored. It was the integrity to the script that blew my hair back. For example, I loved how observant Dottie was; how Joe's "eye hurt" or her depiction of "pure love". The poetic nature of the language never wavered. These people were truly human and truly deep.
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| "He loved me with pure love"…yeah okay Dottie |
It's a shame how long it took for me to realize how powerful a writer Tracy Letts is. Discovering more of his work will be an adventure in itself.
Have an opinion? Is there something I neglected to mention? Comment about it and we can discuss. Thanks for listening.
Cheers,
K
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