BERNIE Is Clever Comic Satire

 BERNIE Review:

- Bernie is a really cool little movie from Richard Linklater, a director whose work I always admire and who never fails to take chances and dare to be different. With BERNIE, Linklater re-teams with his School of Rock star Jack Black, but this time, Black plays very much against type. Black is Bernie Tiede, a sweet, soft spoken, kindly, beloved pillar of his community - the tight-knit community of Carthage, Texas. This darkly comedic film - based on a true story - explores what happens when Bernie, Carthage's favorite son, is accused of murdering bitter, mean old Marjorie Nugent, its most hated woman. Linklater weaves a meticulously-crafted, pitch black, Southern-fried satire here - crafting a memorable morality play that also bursts at the seams with local flavor and detail.

Bernie is shot in a blend of styles. We see the action play out in a series of flashbacks to various points in Bernie's life in Carthage, but the entire narrative is framed with mockumentary-style talking heads, used as a Texas-sized Greek chorus of commentators. As the revolving cast of Carthage locals provide their recollections of Bernie, we'll flash to those moments and see them play out. What makes this work so well is just how authentic-seeming it all is. The characters are over-the-top and exaggerated, sure, but there's also a lovingly-specific quality to them that brought to mind the eccentrics of Christopher Guest's various mockumentary films. It doesn't hurt that all of the actors that portray the interview subjects are just fantastic. I'm not sure to what extent any of them are locals, but it sure feels like most of them are.

As for Black, he helps make Bernie into a fascinating character. Essentially, Bernie is this very odd, almost asexual guy who helps run the local funeral parlor. But he also leads church choir, directs and stars in local theater productions, and essentially devotes his life to improving the community. He's nice to everyone, and even if he's a little eccentric, everyone loves him and admires all the good that he does. Bernie even makes it a habit to visit the homes of the recently-widowed and present flowers and gift-baskets personally. It's in this way that he meets Marjorie - a mean, nasty woman who rejects Bernie's friendly gestures at first, but gradually warms up to his kindness and offers of companionship. Suddenly, the two become an unlikely pair of friends. But the friendship evolves into a weird, master-slave sort of relationship, as the ever-demanding and controlling Marjorie pushes the eager-to-please Bernie to his breaking point.

Back to Black though, he really is fantastic as Bernie. There's an amazing scene that opens the movie that really sums up the character, with Black demonstrating to a room full of students the proper way to dress a corpse for burial. Things that might gross out an ordinary person don't faze Bernie, and he meticulously attends to every detail of the dead body as if working on a painting for a gallery. Immediately, we realize that Bernie is sort of a strange fellow, but at the same time, you've got to admire his dedication to his craft. Soon, we begin to realize that that same dedication extends to everything that Bernie does.

A couple of other actors really stood out to me in this one. Aside from the amazing bit players who fill out the cast as interview subjects, a real highlight is Matthew McConaughey as Danny Buck, the smooth-talking lawyer who becomes a controversial figure when he becomes the man hired to prosecute Bernie. McConaughey is great here - and subtley hilarious. Buck, the alpha-male Texan, seems a bit baffled by Bernie's effeminate good-naturedness, and that makes him even more determined to see him put away. Meanwhile, as Marjorie, Shirley MacLaine is also excellent. Marjorie is a darkly comic character - just a horrible woman who only gets more horrible the nicer Bernie is to her.

Linklater crafts a quirky but very clever film here. So many movies are black-and-white moral exercises ... I found it fascinating to watch this story that poses the question - what if a man commits murder, but nobody could possibly blame him? Directed with a sharply satirical comic flair, and with a meticulous eye for detail, BERNIE is another fine film in Linklater's storied career.

My Grade: B+

KILLER JOE Is Sick and Twisted Fun

KILLER JOE Review:

- I love a great bugnuts insane movie, and KILLER JOE is exactly that. From director William Friedkin, the legend behind such classics as The French Connection and The Exorcist, Killer Joe is just a weird, depraved movie filled with pitch-black humor and some great performances. I wasn't expecting that. I knew little about the movie going in, and my impression was that this was some sort of dark crime flick. Little did I know that I was in for a movie that is dark, yes, but also balls-out crazy. Killer Joe isn't for everyone, but if you enjoy weird movies and want to take a walk on the wild side ... well, it's a must-see.

Adapted from a play by Tracy Letts, Killer Joe is film noir meets theater-of-the-absurd comedy meets grindhouse flick. In the film, we're introduced to a white-trash, trailer-park dwelling family in which each member seems to be various shades of mentally-ill. As the movie begins, the family's screw-up son, Chris (Emile Hirsch) - a low-level drug dealer, who's behind on his payments to a local crime-boss - convinces dimwitted dad Ansel (a fantastic Thomas Haden Church) to have mom killed. Word is she's got a hefty life-insurance policy, in which a large sum of money would, upon her death, go to spaced-out daughter Dottie (an equally awesome Juno Temple). Dottie agrees to go along with the plan, as does Ansel's current wife, the uber-trashy Sharla (Gina Gershon). Through his connections, Chris hires out a corrupt cop with a side-gig as an assassin, nicknamed Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey). Joe at first glance seems like a slickly-efficient killer, but as the movie goes on, we realize that his services can come at a much higher price than you might have bargained for.

The ensemble cast in the film is top-to-bottom phenomenal. McConaughey is just doing killer stuff (pun intended) as Killer Joe - steely-eyed, cold, calculating, and yet - beneath the cool exterior, there's a total psycho waiting to come out. Haden Church is a great counterpoint to McConaughey - a weary, resigned schlub who finds himself in way over his head. Same goes for Hirsch as a scheming crook who only seems to stay alive due to his seeming harmlessness and modicum of charm. Gershon is also very game as Sharla, who is sort of the trailer-trash Lady Macbeth of the piece. I'll also single out Juno Temple as Dottie. Dottie is a strange character - almost absurdly innocent and childlike, yet right in the middle of some very nasty, traumatizing events and rather horrible people. Temple plays Dottie to perfection, making her both empathetic (if only she could get away from her horrible family!), and yet also sort of psychotic in her own right (her twisted relationship with Joe is downright disturbing).

Now, a movie like this can fall apart if it relies on shock value alone. But while KILLER JOE has plenty of totally over-the-top, jaw-droppingly strange scenes - it's also anchored by some fantastically sharp dialogue. This movie has a great script that's clever and incredibly funny. In fact, despite the film's dark, grim tone - I'd actually classify it as a comedy above all else. The dialogue is really spot-on though, and the exchanges between these well-defined characters tend to really crackle. There's an almost Coen Bros.-esque rhythm to some of the scenes.

As for Friedkin, he pulls no punches with the film - showing the various depraved acts that occur in the film in all of their glory (or lack thereof). But what I like is that he gives the movie a streamlined, tightly-woven feel - no wasted scenes, no fat to trim. The film just has a very assured quality to it - never trying too hard. Essentially, in the hands of a pro like Friedkin, Killer Joe avoids many of the traps that a movie like this might have encountered in less skilled hands.

It's rare that a movie like this seems to just sort of come out of nowhere and offer genuine shocks and surprises. But this is one of those movies that, if you're a film fan, you've just got to see to believe. This is a midnight movie classic, a film that will be watched for years to come in dorm-rooms and movie marathons (and yes, the rumors are true - you'll never look at KFC fried chicken the same way again after seeing this film). KILLER JOE is a killer flick - dark, weird, funny, badass, and a movie that needs to be seen to be believed.

My Grade: A-