Seven Psychopaths

[bobover3 (imported)]

Seven Psychopaths is an excellent new movie. Well worth seeing.

It's written and directed by Martin McDonagh, whom I hadn't heard of (he did "In Bruges" last year), but he's well on his way to being an auteur in the Quentin Tarantino mode - visually compelling, piquant and eccentric characters, propulsive story telling, lots of violence. If you like Tarantino's films, you'll like Seven Psychopaths.

The actors include Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson. Everyone is outstanding, especially Sam Rockwell, who plays a whimsical serial killer and loyal friend.

Seven Psychopaths is also what I call a puzzle film - full of recursive and self-referential plot, challenging the audience to make sense of what's happening and what it all means. The key character is a screenwriter working on a script called Seven Psychopaths. As he and his friends suggest different ideas, we see them on screen. The characters write the script and live it simultaneously. Sometimes there are false starts, and new plot ideas replace them. There are many analogies between "real" characters and characters in the script. Eventually, we lose track of whether we're watching Seven Psychopaths or the script of Seven Psychopaths being written in the movie. It's all mind-bending fun.

The core story is loopy: the screenwriter knows people who kidnap dogs for a living, and who may also be serial killers; they kidnap the beloved dog of a crazy gangster who'll do anything to get his dog back. The movie is also full of love, friendship, fate determined by character, fate determined by chance, and tons of violence. It's all a hoot. The audience is treated to surprise after surprise in the fast-paced action. I finally concluded the film means nothing at all. It's pure entertainment of a high order.

[Dave (imported)]

I liked "In Bruges"

It's such a fun gangster movie.

The punk trying to rob Colin Farrell is like watching a psychopath get out-psychopathed by a master of crazy.

[bobover3 (imported)]

You'll love Seven Psychopaths.