Killer Joe

I've been waiting to see it since it came out back in the summer. The problem was it was a limited release or something. I'm not sure what they call it in the movie biz but the result was that I couldn't see it anywhere I lived. Then I moved to Arkansas right before the fall started and... well, it's Arkansas. I had better chance seeing Satan skiing in Arkansas than seeing Killer Joe in Arkansas.

It was released on the On Demand cable systems recently; I watched it last night.

Killer Joe was awesome.

It was originally written for the stage by Tracy Letts. It showed Off-Broadway for 9 months in 1998. The story takes place in small-town Texas; trailers, dogs on chains, cars on cinder blocks, the whole bit. Everything looks and feels a little behind the times even though it is set in the present day: the way people dress is modest, the cars they drive are old and make noise, everybody knows everybody. The family (stepmom, father, sister, and brother) is the focus of the story. The stepmom is a floozy and the dad is an obtuse, brawny mechanic who doesn't realize his wife's infidelity. The daughter is a pretty, teenaged girl who seems slow but is very observant. Her brother, who is older, is a Class A screw up who owes someone money and comes to his family to figure out a way to resolve his debt.

What immediately impressed me was the realism. Where in a Tarantino film, you get real settings and characters that look real. You also get a sort of cartoonish script full of hyperboles and clumsy pauses. It's good. But it feels like a movie. Killer Joe has the real look and the feel. The lines of the characters sound natural and typical. They say humdrum, mindless things. They make meaningless conversation and curse a lot. It made the movie slow but believable. Along with the 'real' aspect of the movie came the violence. It was graphic, yes. But something about the way it was achieved elicited an emotional reaction from me; something that felt sorry for characters or at times indifferent. It wasn't like Tarantino's machine gun Hitler scene in Inglorious Basterds. That was just funny.

The depth of the characters is what I noticed next. The family all had instances when they interacted with each other on individual levels as well as in their family unit. So you got to see each of their versions of affection, panic, manipulation, idiocy, and succumbing to pressures of people and situations.

Matthew McConnaughey gave a totally captivating performance. He was an odd and calculating yet charming and handsome predator. You had no choice but to pay attention to his time in front of the camera.

I liked the use of colors both on the characters and in their environments. They were not necessarily indicative of unspoken plot secrets but they made things visually interesting and supported some of the personality traits of the characters. The cinematography/screenplay was nice because it kept the "play" aspect of the story intact. During the crucial scenes of the movie you could see multiple characters in one still shot, how they contributed to the scene, and how the set aided those reactions.

The movie has surprises. The end is interesting. The music is okay. The only thing that I would change is the presence of the sister and brother's biological mom. The movie was hard to follow at one point, and not for any intentional reason for all I can tell.

I'm sad it took me so long to see it but not regretful in the least bit that I did.