You Kill Me
YOU KILL ME (John Dahl, 20007)
** (Worth seeing)
It could well be an auterist/apologist projecting his own reservations about the picture but Dahl seems completely uninterested in the genre components of this film. Dennis Farina and Philip Baker Hall gain no traction in the Buffalo-set gangster scenes. I assume Dahl couldn't resist the premise: alcoholic hit man forced into rehab because his drinking affects his ability to kill professionally.
This vein of recovery for immoral purposes remains more suggestive than fully realized--a testament to the actors populating the San Francisco-set recovery scenes transcending the modest script. One watches this film for Ben Kingsley essaying a criminal that can stand alongside his Don Logan in SEXY BEAST, for Tea Leoni having some room to flail expertly, for what Bill Pullman can spin, and for the increasingly rare chance to see Luke Wilson display his capability for manifesting decency.
That Kinglsey and Leoni repeatedly walk backward down San Francisco's steep hills in the belief that it's good for you aptly analogizes Dahl's relationship to the material.
** (Worth seeing)
It could well be an auterist/apologist projecting his own reservations about the picture but Dahl seems completely uninterested in the genre components of this film. Dennis Farina and Philip Baker Hall gain no traction in the Buffalo-set gangster scenes. I assume Dahl couldn't resist the premise: alcoholic hit man forced into rehab because his drinking affects his ability to kill professionally.
This vein of recovery for immoral purposes remains more suggestive than fully realized--a testament to the actors populating the San Francisco-set recovery scenes transcending the modest script. One watches this film for Ben Kingsley essaying a criminal that can stand alongside his Don Logan in SEXY BEAST, for Tea Leoni having some room to flail expertly, for what Bill Pullman can spin, and for the increasingly rare chance to see Luke Wilson display his capability for manifesting decency.
That Kinglsey and Leoni repeatedly walk backward down San Francisco's steep hills in the belief that it's good for you aptly analogizes Dahl's relationship to the material.
Labels: ben kingsley, bill pullman, john dahl, luke wilson, sexy beast, tea leoni, you kill me
posted by Bret LaGree at 13:32
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