Killer Joe (2011)

Directed by: William Friedkin | 103 minutes | comedy, crime, thriller | Actors: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church, Julia Adams, Marc Macauley, Jeff Galpin, Danny Epper, Scott A. Martin, Gralen Bryant Banks

‘Killer Joe’ received the NC-17 film rating in the United States, which stands for gross violence and many nude and/or sex scenes. It is often not so bad for European standards, but ‘Killer Joe’ ensures that the film rating is in order. The film revolves around the dysfunctional Smith family living in a trailer in Texas. Son Chris is heavily indebted to a drug dealer and needs to get a good amount of money as soon as possible. When he hears that his mother has a life insurance policy of $50,000, he comes up with an idea. Since Mother Adele is an alcoholic and also an annoying person, Chris contacts Killer Joe, a detective with a double agenda who commits murders for a lot of money. Killer Joe has no problem killing Adele for a lot of money, but wants to be paid in advance. The penniless Chris can’t do that and the deal seems off. Until the slick Killer Joe spots Chris’ sister. Young Dottie is sold to Killer Joe without realizing it. But then Chris still has to pay a large part of the life insurance policy to Killer Joe after the murder. Everything seems to be running smoothly until Chris starts to feel a huge sense of guilt over his sister. However, he doesn’t seem to realize that Killer Joe is not to be trifled with.

‘Killer Joe’ immediately sets the tone. This isn’t going to be a sweet movie. In the opening scene we see Gina Gershon completely naked in the doorway, then the makers throw another portion of violence at it. The Smith family is the kind of family where you’re just glad you’re not part of it yourself. Father Ansel is as dumb as a pig’s backside, stepmother Sharla is aggressive and cheating all the time, son Chris deals drugs and daughter Dottie is a naive Lolita. The arrival of Killer Joe initially seems to do the family good as everyone is impressed by the charismatic detective/assassin who likes to dine at the table together. Yet there is a continuous tension and that is due to the acting of all the protagonists.

The star of the film is clearly Matthew McConaughey, who has left his romantic comedy image far behind. His Texan pronunciation has remained (as always) and fits his role very well for a change. Joe is a charmer who appears very confident with his slow movements. He is not to be trifled with and you can sense that there is a true psychopath hiding beneath that calm exterior. His fascination with the much too young Dottie is downright nasty, even though he doesn’t do anything extreme to get her attention. McConaughey appears to be visibly enjoying his extreme role. The talented Juno Temple plays the almost unworldly Dottie, who is very innocent on the one hand, but at the same time seems to have a lot of Lolita qualities. In her own way, she tries to escape her depressing family by going after Joe’s attention. Temple is able to fuse the childish with the seductive in one character. Gina Gershon and Thomas Hayden Church are perfect as parents. Church provides the comic relief with his dumb alcoholic character Ansel. Gershon initially seems to do little except be aggressive and sexy but proves to be able to add more in the most intense scene of ‘Killer Joe’. The only one who can’t quite convey the white trash feeling is Emile Hirsch. He talks too neatly and is actually not dirty enough (literally and figuratively). Hirsch’s character seems to be a slightly more outspoken version of his role in ‘Into The Wild’.

William Friedkin (‘The Excorcist’, ‘The French Connection’) slowly builds his film towards an inevitable confrontation between the Smith family and Killer Joe. A showdown that begins with the film’s most bizarre scene involving Sharla, Joe, and a KFC chicken leg. It is there, among all the vulgarity, that Gershon’s acting jumps off the canvas. The combination of absurdity and good actors ensures that the film never becomes pulp. ‘Killer Joe’ is a fierce film about a disturbed family that gives a big nod to the film noir genre. Not suitable for the faint of heart but certainly entertaining for the enthusiast.