SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
Written and Directed by Martin McDonach
Starring Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Colin Farrell
Released in 2012
Written and Directed by Martin McDonach
Starring Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Colin Farrell
Released in 2012
7 Psychopaths is that rare motion picture that aims for the intelligent adult market while at the same time seeking to have tremendous amounts of fun. It succeeds on both counts.
Colin Farrell plays Marty McDonagh, a screenwriter who happens to be the person who actually wrote and directed 7 Psychopaths. Marty, like his namesake, is a fun and peace-loving Irish drinker who wants to have some useful experiences before he finishes writing the movie he's working on, a movie that goes by the title 7 Psychopaths. The problem is that he has this friend named Billy, played by Sam Rockwell (an actor who, until I saw this wonderful movie, I would have sworn could not act and who was, as far as I used to be concerned, a very poor man's Dana Garvey--an assessment I am deliriously happy to admit I was correct about, up until this movie). Billy is an actor who has a hard time getting a gig because he's a bit prone to violence, which makes him an interesting foil for Marty. Billy can't buy the bacon with his acting skills, so he takes a job as a dog kidnapper. His boss is Hans, played to mesmerizing limitless horizons by Christopher Walken. I forget what Hans' original calling was, but he has been reduced to this criminal line of work to help pay for the medical treatment for his wife Myra, also known as Linda Bright Clay, a woman who will steal your heart right from the movie screen. Anyway, Billy makes the mistake of stealing a Shih Tzu from Charlie, a gold chain-wearing mafia type played by Woody Harrelson. Charlie's cursed with something of a short fuse and he makes it his life's work finding out who stole his dog.
To tell you more about the plot of 7 Psychopaths would be to chance ruining it for you and that I will not do. I will admit that this is the best new movie I have seen this year. Few films are able to pull off the Herculean task of commenting upon themselves while the movie is in process, as Billy does when he and Marty and Hans are on their way somewhere to come up with an idea for the film.
One of the other cool and self-referential aspects of 7 Psychopathsis that Hans/Christopher Walken points out along the way that Marty hasn't written any strong women into the script. Marty admits this and reckons that it's hard being a woman. Still, we get a true heroine in the form of Helena Mattsson, as well as a psychotic Quaker played--guess!--by Harry Dean Stanton and an even crazier psychopath played by Tom Waits (who never sings a note in the movie, oddly enough).
This movie is funny, profane, exhilarating, a little sexy, and contains the only dream sequence I've ever seen in a movie in this century that actually works for the betterment of the film.
The only thing that could have made 7 Psychopaths better--and even this may just be picking gnats out of horse manure--would be if we in the audience had been given some basis for the friendship among Marty, Billy and Hans. As it is, we have to rely on the formidable acting skills of these three (which is more than adequate, naturally), when what we might have liked would have been to drawn in more of their humanity in between the snappy patter. Nevertheless, it is impossible to recommend this film too heartily.
Colin Farrell plays Marty McDonagh, a screenwriter who happens to be the person who actually wrote and directed 7 Psychopaths. Marty, like his namesake, is a fun and peace-loving Irish drinker who wants to have some useful experiences before he finishes writing the movie he's working on, a movie that goes by the title 7 Psychopaths. The problem is that he has this friend named Billy, played by Sam Rockwell (an actor who, until I saw this wonderful movie, I would have sworn could not act and who was, as far as I used to be concerned, a very poor man's Dana Garvey--an assessment I am deliriously happy to admit I was correct about, up until this movie). Billy is an actor who has a hard time getting a gig because he's a bit prone to violence, which makes him an interesting foil for Marty. Billy can't buy the bacon with his acting skills, so he takes a job as a dog kidnapper. His boss is Hans, played to mesmerizing limitless horizons by Christopher Walken. I forget what Hans' original calling was, but he has been reduced to this criminal line of work to help pay for the medical treatment for his wife Myra, also known as Linda Bright Clay, a woman who will steal your heart right from the movie screen. Anyway, Billy makes the mistake of stealing a Shih Tzu from Charlie, a gold chain-wearing mafia type played by Woody Harrelson. Charlie's cursed with something of a short fuse and he makes it his life's work finding out who stole his dog.
To tell you more about the plot of 7 Psychopaths would be to chance ruining it for you and that I will not do. I will admit that this is the best new movie I have seen this year. Few films are able to pull off the Herculean task of commenting upon themselves while the movie is in process, as Billy does when he and Marty and Hans are on their way somewhere to come up with an idea for the film.
One of the other cool and self-referential aspects of 7 Psychopathsis that Hans/Christopher Walken points out along the way that Marty hasn't written any strong women into the script. Marty admits this and reckons that it's hard being a woman. Still, we get a true heroine in the form of Helena Mattsson, as well as a psychotic Quaker played--guess!--by Harry Dean Stanton and an even crazier psychopath played by Tom Waits (who never sings a note in the movie, oddly enough).
This movie is funny, profane, exhilarating, a little sexy, and contains the only dream sequence I've ever seen in a movie in this century that actually works for the betterment of the film.
The only thing that could have made 7 Psychopaths better--and even this may just be picking gnats out of horse manure--would be if we in the audience had been given some basis for the friendship among Marty, Billy and Hans. As it is, we have to rely on the formidable acting skills of these three (which is more than adequate, naturally), when what we might have liked would have been to drawn in more of their humanity in between the snappy patter. Nevertheless, it is impossible to recommend this film too heartily.
