There is a scene in Michael Winterbottom's "The Killer Inside Me" in
which Casey Affleck beats Jessica Alba to a pulp that many will find
reprehensible and impossible to watch and yet I would argue that the
scene, while deeply disturbing and very shocking, is integral to the
film which is about a psychopathic killer and sexual sadist. The film is
based on a Jim Thompson novel and is one of the best crime movies,
indeed one of the best American movies, of the last 10 years. It w
as,
of course, very controversial and understandably so but I certainly
didn't find this scene, or a similar scene later in the picture,
exploitative.
There are
several killings in "The Killer Inside Me", some brutal and upfront,
others that don't even happen onscreen, and Casey Affleck is responsible
for all of them. Considering he's never really off the screen Affleck
delivers a tour-de-force performance; he's terrific and should have won
every award going, (he was my own personal choice as best actor of the
year), but the film wasn't particularly successful and, anyway, Oscar is
hardly likely to recognise a man who takes pleasure in beating up women. The director, Michael Winterbottom, is English but you would never know it. However nasty this might be, it is an authentic slice of American pie.
There is a scene in Michael Winterbottom's "The Killer Inside Me" in
which Casey Affleck beats Jessica Alba to a pulp that many will find
reprehensible and impossible to watch and yet I would argue that the
scene, while deeply disturbing and very shocking, is integral to the
film which is about a psychopathic killer and sexual sadist. The film is
based on a Jim Thompson novel and is one of the best crime movies,
indeed one of the best American movies, of the last 10 years. It was,
of course, very controversial and understandably so but I certainly
didn't find this scene, or a similar scene later in the picture,
exploitative.
There are
several killings in "The Killer Inside Me", some brutal and upfront,
others that don't even happen onscreen, and Casey Affleck is responsible
for all of them. Considering he's never really off the screen Affleck
delivers a tour-de-force performance; he's terrific and should have won
every award going, (he was my own personal choice as best actor of the
year), but the film wasn't particularly successful and, anyway, Oscar is
hardly likely to recognise a man who takes pleasure in beating up women. The director, Michael Winterbottom, is English but you would never know it. However nasty this might be, it is an authentic slice of American pie.
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