Winterbotton's THE KILLER INSIDE ME Pulverises Sundance
Hot on the heels of the 2009 violent shocker Anti-Christ directed by Lars Von Trier comes another controversial tour-de-force in Michael Winterbottoms latest, The Killer Inside Me. The film starring Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba has outraged audiences at the Sundance Film Festival, specifically because of a brutal scene where Affleck's character beats Alba to an inch of her life. The scene is so nasty it prompted one woman in her 60s to stand up and berate the Sundance committee for allowing the film into competition. Her fellow audience members apparently cheered and jeered in equal measure to her comments before she storming from the Eccles Theatre. Michael Winterbottom was standing by nonplussed at the dais before being later explaining that he only wanted to remain faithful to the 50s novel of the same name by Jim Thompson. Without wanting to ruin anything for those of you still waiting to see this film if your curiosity is piqued then after the jump we tell you what all the fuss was about (though spoilers are ahead)... Seth Abramovitch from Movieline wrote in his 25.01.10 review...
"After making love and discussing their plans to reconvene a few weeks down the line, Lou pulls on a pair of black gloves, then begins to punch Alba in the face, at full force, repeatedly. The camera does not turn away, and as he takes a good dozen shots at her head, her features begin to distort at each impact with his closed fist. As she lies on the floor, unconscious, unrecognizable, and barely breathing, he asks if she can hear him. He tells her he loves her, and thats hes sorry. He then takes several more punches".Cinema Blend's verdict is that the film is at best a Lynchian cliché and at worst a horrific and unflinching act of misogyny perpetrated more by the filmmakers than the storys hero Lou. Empires Damon Wise seems to be still in shock though and reserving the right to see the film again before making any final judgement by the sounds of it, a repeat viewing is daunting. Is it at all possible though that we have this decades definitive Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer or will the characters and themes be so inaccessible that only the criminally insane can find beauty in it?