First, I watched this one with the small guilt that I feel watching extraneous films during Oscar prep season. I have numerous films that I'm not going to get to. I will miss Amour. I also will probably miss Beasts of the Southern Wild and Life of Pi, but I have been looking forward to this one since before I heard of Lincoln. The truth of that statement is that I have been waiting with rapt anticipation for Martin McDonagh's next movie since the end of the first time I saw In Bruges. I am a fan of McDonagh from his plays, starting with my friends rendition of The Pillow Man to my reading of the Leenane trilogy on my own time. I absolutely treasure his morbid sense of humor and his tendency to portray peripheral characters who do terrifyingly violent things to other people. I treasure this as a call-back to Flannery O'Connor and the idea that our society can truly see itself most clearly in the monsters it creates. I've had long discussions with friends about this and I agree with some people's conception that the glimmer of hope and the possibility of grace and redemption entering these stories is lacking from the Southern gothic style of Flannery, but I believe in the power of looking well into the void and the power of that critique on the way we allow our world to work.
That said, Mairtin (as he often spells it, I believe to emphasize an Irish pronunciation) takes a step back from his normal tack in this film and does something reminiscent of what Charlie Kaufman achieved in Adaptation. The story is about a borderline alcoholic Irish screenwriter in Hollywood named Martin. Not quite what Charlie did, but he takes other steps into the surreal world of commenting on his own process.
Thus, for wit, I gave it a 9.5. This is .5 lower than Adaptation, but that one is nigh unapproachable. I also compared it to A Serious Man, which would have dropped it below 9.5, but it was as well written and acted as Rushmore, a statement that will get people on my case, I know, but it is true. McDonagh tears apart his obsession with psychopaths and his tears apart his categories and he gets Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson to help him.
The whole cast really gets involved and creates a magnificent story here. Colin Farrell does what he normally does, no offense, but nothing new. This is not an insult, because what he does can be gut-wrenching and captivating, but Irish drunk is his schtick. I love it. Sam Rockwell has also gotten used to being the crazy guy. But here it is clearly above and beyond, both on the crazy and on the sane end of it. Christopher Walken is at the top of his game, not completely out of character, but more reserved and even less violent. Woody Harrelson plays another over-the-top sort of character, very much in the vein of Tallahassee from Zombieland. Too many great actors to name, but none that struck me as jumping out of there comfort zones.
For wisdom, I'm a little conflicted. Mairtin's decision to deal with the seeming conflict between his feelings about violence and his ease with depicting it seems wise. That may not be how he would describe what he's doing, but it's hard to describe. It's hard to pin down these points without ruining it, but he clearly comes down on a side that is against the idea that violence solves problems, yet simultaneously against the idea that violence is never the answer. It is all about changing your life when you see a problem developing and sending the right sort of message. For this, I give it a 9.5. There's just a couple of small niggles in my brain about the nature of a psychopath and religious mumbo-jumbo. That will certainly come up when I review Life of Pi.
Lastly, I will give him a 9.5 for wonder on the basis of the use of voice-over and cutaways effectively, good music choice, and good work for a director without a lot under his belt. There seems less to say here, but it really is a "wonder"ful movie. That seems silly as soon as I type it, but I'm alright with it.
I can think of all sorts that I would not suggest this movie to. My grandma and all my dad's family. Cursing and violence absolutely abound and all the characters are pretty messed up, but there is something really good behind it all, I truly believe. Enjoyez!
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