I saw this a few weeks ago. I honestly respect or admire the film's ambition and craftsmanship more than I enjoyed it.
Visually this movie looked great. This had some intriguing aesthetics with the "sunbaked" noir. It is a noir where everything happens in broad daylight in a small town. The irony was rich enough that I loved it.
The characters were also extremely well written, developed and acted. Casey Affleck proves again why he is one of the best character actors of his generation. Following Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James up with this cements him as a great character actor who can take the lead. This was a cool, reserved, completely unnerving performance of one of the most vile sociopaths I've seen on screen. And his narration was hilarious, in a very morbid gallows-humor way, to boot.
Surprisingly the other stand out performance was Jessica Alba. I think it helps her screentime and what she had to do was somewhat limited. But she honestly more than succeeded at developing sincere sympathy and pathos for a ****e. As much an innocent as one can be found in this movie. Ned Beaty, Koteas, the Mentalist guy, etc. also give fine supporitng performances. Kate Hudson was a bit bland, but believable.
Yet, I had serious problems with this movie. Quite a few. They mostly stem from the writing. I suspect this story plays much better on the page as a novel where there is more breathing room between the acts of violence. Here, I think it starts strong with his first murder(s), of who I won't give away, as well as the one in the jail and the hospital sequence in between that created a sort of Double Indemnity vibe. The killer got away with it...but the problems begin to mount with covering up his story. What he is going to do? Everybody knows. Nobody knows. This won't end well...
But the absurdity of how it escalates with the blackmailing drifter, the kitchen scene and then the last hurrah in the house with the final twists in 60 seconds...it was just too much and too over the top.
Lastly the violence was too much. I'm not saying I was morally opposed to it. But as a noir, it was far too graphic leaving nothing to the imagination. And the first person he "kills" with his bare hands left me feeling repulsed to the whole experience. I also felt the inclusion of child rape really twists the narrative too early.
A very mixed film. Aesthetically impressive, wonderfully acted, but all too much. Too violent, too many twists, too absurd. And the end just leaves me more than a bit empty.
An interesting film to watch, but one I never want to revisit.
Not ever.
