Killing Them Softly (2012)

Directed by: Andrew Dominik | 97 minutes | crime, drama, thriller | Actors: Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Vincent Curatola, Ray Liotta, Trevor Long, Max Casella, Sam Shepard, Slaine, Christopher Berry, Ross Brodar, Julio Castillo, Joe Chrest, Garret Dillahunt, Oscar Gale, Mustafa Harris, Bella Heathcote, Wendy Clarice Jordan

Where Brad Pitt appears, the halls fill up, you might say. And if the film in question fits the label ‘cult’, the highly educated among us also have an alibi. Well, not so. Perhaps the best proof is the highly-rated but poorly attended ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’, Andre Dominik’s previous film in which Pitt also played a leading role. A long film with slow dialogues; if you want to fill the (arthouse) cinemas, you must be called Gebroeders Coen or have won major film prizes.

That doesn’t apply (yet) to ‘Killing Them Softly’. However, the commercial signs are more favourable. It is a cool violence product that lasts more than an hour and a half, in which the good elements from Dominik’s earlier work have been preserved, such as the important role for the spoken word and an unconventional – let’s say black – view of contemporary America. Drawn-out dialogues are then ideally suited both to sketch characters – see the Brothers – and to serve humor – see Tarantino.

Whose deed. Briefly the story, based on the novel ‘Cogan’s Trade’ by George V. Higgins. In a crisis-ravaged and Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, two grubby ex-cons Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) have an easy way to earn money by robbing an illegal poker club. Company manager Markie (Ray Liotta) is so corrupt that both the police and the gambling mafia know who must have done it. But then they have not counted on the villainous informant Jackie Cogan, played smoothly and convincingly by Pitt.

Cogan takes matters into his own hands, because the police wimps are too bad for it. The expected scenario of cat-and-mouse hardly plays a role, because the form is dominant in ‘Killing Them Softly’. Several followers even speak of ‘realistic’ violence when it comes to the film. Impressively portrayed are the shootings and the like, but it is still entertainment. The culmination is blowing up a car, which has the allure of a YouTube video and is terrifyingly hilarious because of the surprise effect.

Important in ‘Killing Them Softly’ is the mirrored analogy with Barack Obama taking office. The film is set in the months leading up to the 2008 presidential elections, the months of the stock crisis. The contrast between the apocalyptic New Orleans and the optimism preaching Obama is a good basis for the actions of the characters, and Dominik sketches a 2008 that can hardly be distinguished from 1880 in terms of Wild West mentality. Peacock peacock and lawlessness? ‘Yes we can’, seems Dominik’s cynical argument.

In general, the dialogues are just a bit too long. However, the raw dish is believable – except for Brad there aren’t many cool guys around – and served in a pleasantly digestible way, with a face-to-face James Gandolfini as an assassin. Remarkable: in ‘Killing Them Softly’ there is almost no woman-with-text, except for a middle finger and swearing whore.