#7: Killer Joe

In a rare move, the MPAA awarded “Killer Joe” an NC-17 certificate, the American equivalent of 18. It cited the film’s “graphic disturbing content involving brutality, violence and sexuality”. That was all I needed to hear before I bought myself a ticket.

The plot is set in motion by Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch, “Into the Wild”), who could uncharitably be described as a red-neck, white-trash, small-time drug dealer. Deep in debt to the wrong sort of people, Chris conducts a cunning plan: hire a hitman to assassinate his estranged mother, then collect the life insurance payment himself. It’s foolproof. Only Chris can’t afford the killer’s services upfront, so Joe takes Chris’s younger sister, Dotty, as collateral.

So far, so straightforward. But more interesting than the insurance fraud is the eerily-touching romantic subplot between Joe and Dottie. Matthew McConaughey has been typecast as the “smug leading man” in countless romantic comedies over the past decade. But here he plays off audience expectations. And he gives easily the best performace of his career as the titular killer. Joe is charming and chilling in equal measures. He wears a black hat in true ol’ Western fashion. 

Newcomer Juno Temple (who none of you will remember for her pointless role in “The Dark Knight Rises”) is totally credible as the sweet but vulnerable Dotty. She is innocent in every sense of the word: naive, unworldly and a tad feeble-minded. She casually recounts to Joe over lunch how her disturbed mother tried to smother her as a child. He is utterly entranced her, as are we. But our super-ego sides with Chris, protecting his helpless younger sister from this murderer. Yet another part of us, the id sees her through Joe’s eyes and… well, take a look at her for crying out loud. (http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Juno-Temple-as-Dottie-in-Killer-Joe-.jpeg) What would another hot-blooded male want to do!?

“Killer Joe” shrewdly plays off the ambivalence in each of us, right up to its shocking conclusion. I personally guarantee you will never look at a KFC chicken leg in the same way after witnessing the final scene. Like “Lars and the Real Girl”, this film somehow works against all the odds, due to the terrific acting and interplay between Joe and Dottie in its quieter moments. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you liked “Drive” then I can’t recommend this highly enough.

Well that’s enough ultra-violent art-house mumbo-jumbo for one night. Come back tomorrow for this summer’s best blockbuster! It’s #6: “Man, just Look at her Skin-tight Catsuit. And, oh, the City being Destroyed in the Background, yeah…”