
Total Film
Taking a cold, cruel plunge into its sociopath’s world, Winterbottom’s latest genre swerve is an accomplished neo-noir.
Full reviewCrime drama (based on the novel by legendary pulp writer Jim Thompson) from director Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart, 24 Hour Party People) starring Casey Affleck (the better Affleck), Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson.
Lou Ford (Affleck) is a handsome, charming, unassuming small town sheriff in West Texas with a bunch of problems. Woman problems, law enforcement problems, an ever-growing pile of murder victims, plus there's the fact he's a sadist, a psychopath, and a killer. Suspicion begins to fall on Lou, and it's only a matter of time before he runs out of alibis.
LessTaking a cold, cruel plunge into its sociopath’s world, Winterbottom’s latest genre swerve is an accomplished neo-noir.
Full reviewWhile I admire Affleck's performance, I believe Winterbottom and his writer, John Curran, may have miscalculated. The reader of a pulp crime thriller might be satisfied simply with the prurient descriptions, and certainly this film visualizes those and has as its victims Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, who embody paperback covers, but the dominant presence in the film is Lou Ford, and there just doesn't seem to be anybody at home.
Full reviewThis is a film which will live or die in your memory based on your reaction to a scene of almost unwatchable violence that occurs within the opening half an hour, and which has duly invoked comparisons to both Gaspar Noé’s Irréversible and Lars von Trier’s Antichrist.
Full reviewAs darkly disturbing as Jim Thompson's novel, this is a genuinely upsetting film that might also be Winterbottom's best. Not for everyone, but near-faultless all the same.
Full reviewIn 1950s west Texas, small-town deputy Sheriff Lou Ford (Affleck) is leading a double life. In town he is the mild-mannered cop everyone knows and tolerates.
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