Compliance
(2011/Magnolia Blu-ray)/The Imposter
(2012/Gaiam Vivendi/Indomnia DVD)/Killer
Joe: Unrated Director’s Cut (2012/William Friedkin/Lionsgate Blu-ray)/Lightning Bug (2004/Image Blu-ray)
Picture: B-/C/B/C+ Sound: B/C+/B/C+ Extras: C/C/B/C Films: C/B-/B/C-
There was
a time when films knew how to deal with the poor and troubled, but with the
1980s rollback in mature filmmaking, reality became uniquely distorted on this
subject. As I have noted before, a sort
of quiet subgenre of films and other projects have risen out of a fascination
with Southerners who are from the middle class to outright being poor and this
struck me when I watched the following releases so close together.
Craig
Zobel’s Compliance (2011) tells a
disturbing story that turns out to be a compilation of a disturbing number of
similar and maybe copycat instances where someone calls a business claiming to
be the police and sees how far they can push the people to do things via
conformity and beyond sanity claiming to be investigating a criminal case.
In this
variant, a young lady employed at a fast food chicken locale is accused of
stealing money from a customer, something we never see her do and there is zero
evidence thereof, but her female boss already under much stress brings her to
the back room and the “cop” suddenly starts asking her to strip search the
employee and that he is speaking to her boss.
This is believable to a point and you can believe people could be
bullied into some of this, but Zobel’s take makes many mistakes making it into
more of an exploitation piece than her may or may not have intended.
One part
of it is the idiot plot problem and that too many people make too many basic
mistakes, bringing up my poor southerner point, that such people are dumber
than dumb and that is a stereotype. Then
there is the problem with most of the action taking place inside the office
with the “cop” on the phone, making this too much of a “stuck in a” tale that
wears thin quickly. Finally, there is
not enough ironic distance going on here and many points that could be made are
lost, something William Friedkin and writer Tracy Letts do not miss out on in Killer Joe.
I heard
women started to scream at the screen in anger at this one and I believe
it. The actors are brave, but the
director not so much, making Compliance
a big missed opportunity.
Extras include
a Director’s Interview piece, Original Theatrical Trailer, AXS TV piece to
promote the release and Behind The Scenes featurette.
Bart
Layton’s The Imposter (2012) is as
serious about an insane event, but is actually a documentary about a
13-year-old young male who suddenly disappears a good few years ago now and is
found four years later as an abused victim in Spain. Spain? The family is shocked and happy, with one of
them flying there from Texas (yes, Texas again) to get
him. Turns out he is really a
26-year-old French con artist and sociopath who has conned the authorities into
believing he is the Texan through luck, happenstance and cunning. He describes himself over the phone posing
(you guessed it) as a police officer and gets the name, then starts to try to
be him. In the end, he is accepted as
such and lands up flying back to Texas.
But it
does not end there. This guy eventually
goes to high school, continues to play7 the victim and leans more about who he
is pretending to be. Yet he makes
mistakes. He remembers to dye his hair
blond, but never things to start talking in a Texan accent. He also does not try to find out more to help
him out enough (especially if the real person he is playing returns), but that
does not matter when some people start to catch on, yet there are much more
twists to all this and you’ll have to see it to believe it.
My big
problem here is that the style and form the makers begin with is bad, flat,
predictable, desperate and repetitive, but the story is so compelling, you have
to see it. There is limited stereotyping
here, but it also plays in real life into what eventually happens.
Extras
include a Making Of featurette and the Original Theatrical Trailer.
The
release here that gets it is William Friedkin’s Killer Joe (2012), here in its graphic, sometimes shocking and disturbing
Unrated Director’s Cut in what may be his best work since To Live & Die In L.A. (reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this
site) give or take Bug. Matthew McConaughey gives one of the best,
most challenging performances of his career as the police officer of the title
(he is a real one in this case) in Texas (!!!) who happens to also be a serial
killer.
Desperate
for money, a broken family starts to come up with an awful plan to collect
insurance money led by a disgruntled son (Emile Hirsch) of a divorced father
(Thomas Hayden Church) and in-her-own-world sister (the underrated Juno Temple)
to kill his mother to get insurance money form some information her heard,
including on how to meet Joe. This would
include the live-in girlfriend (a brave performance by Gina Gershon) who all
agree to get Joe for big money they don’t have, but he wants his money up
front, but the young sister becomes collateral until the big paycheck comes
in. But they have to kill the woman
first and make it look like an accident believing one of them is the recipient.
Of
course, as well thought out as this supposedly is, it is not and things do not
happen as expected, but this will not stop Joe from doing what he wants to do,
needs to do and feels like doing, even if it means crossing every line before
him. However, this is not a mere serial
killer film or a dark satire despite its dark humor, but a dark, sad
examination of how sick, sad and pathetic all people can get under the worst of
circumstance. It is also very
challenging material and only worth seeing uncut or not at all.
The
performances all around are solid with Hirsch making a personal artistic
comeback and it is a shame this dark gem could not land more theaters, but it
is very graphic, vulgar and adult, so be prepared in advance if you decide to
see it. However, if you do, you will be
impressed and stunned, no matter your reaction.
Friedkin is back in top form and that makes it one of the year’s best.
Extras
include yet another great feature length audio commentary track by Freidkin,
the (I am not kidding) “White Trash” Red Band Original Theatrical Trailer, two
pieces on the film’s launch at SXSW and featurette Southern Fried Hospitality: From Stage To Screen.
Oldest of
all but part of this sub cycle is Robert Hall’s Lightning Bug (2004) about a young man (Bret Harrison) trapped in a
small hick-mentality town dreaming his make-up skills could take him to Hollywood and a better
life. He falls for a pretty local gal
whose mother is a stuck-up elitist would-be Christian fundamentalist who is
spiteful and begrudging in every way and he has silly friends, a younger
brother he tries to take care of and an unwise mother who has taken up with an
alcoholic who is only going to get worse.
Shot in Alabama, any characters
that may be stereotypes are treated seriously and more as archetypes, but the
film can be sloppy and unconvincing with sheer inexperience showing the limits
of the film and it has aged in maxed ways.
The cast is not bad, but not great, plus a lack of chemistry and
believability are issues as well. It is
a film that loves Horror movie culture, but does not know what to do with that
enough and the ideas here overall do not connect as they should.
At least
this is ambitious and more so than most such productions today, yet even with
15 more minutes in its extended cut, which actually makes this a little better,
the film still cannot overcome its many little issues that undermine it when
all is said and done. Other cast members
include Kevin Gage, Laura Prepon, Lucas Till and stand-up comic Hal sparks, so
there are some compelling people including some of the unknowns, but this might
become some kind of odd cult item down the line. Otherwise, I was not a fan, but those
interested will likely find at least a little more in it.
Extras include Outtakes, the Original Theatrical Trailer, A Music Video, Deleted
Scenes with optional Director’s Commentary, two feature length audio
commentaries (Hall is on both) and two Making Of featurettes: AfterGlow and
Luciferin.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Compliance and 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Killer Joe are similar in that they are
HD shoots in usually confined spaces, though Joe has more outdoor and location
footage. However, the former should have
the edge and has more motion blur and detail issues, while Joe has Director of Photography Caleb Deschanel, A.S.C, who also
lensed the Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher
and makes this cleaner, clearer and more effective visually than Compliance, which does not seem to know
how to get the most out of it widescreen frame. The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition
image on Lightning was actually shot
on Fuji film in
the Super 16mm format with some good shots, but others unfortunately blur and
others just don’t look as good as they could.
That leaves the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in Imposter comprised of new digital
footage (likely simple HD) and sometimes old analog video from the actual case.
All three
Blu-ray offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes with Compliance and Killer Joe having really good, solid, warm, consistent,
well-recorded soundfields throughout, but Lightning
(a Dolby Digital theatrical release) has its sound towards the front speakers
and has fidelity limits from location audio, sound not intended for a 5.1 mix
and other sonic issues that hold it back.
That leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Imposter that is a mix of simple stereo interviews, new music and
old analog audio that manages to be the equal of Lightning when all is said and done.
- Nicholas Sheffo
