Killing Them Softly: We're all Broke

It's that time of year again, and for most of us everything possibly stressful about life finds a way to push its way into our consciousness just in time for the break. There are secret santa gifts to be gotten for people you don't know very well,  travel plans to be arranged and exams (for us college kids) to be taken.  Predictably, the question of money seems to come into everyone's heads . Buying presents is ultimately dictated by how much money you are willing to shell out, and let's face it, there is absolutely nothing better than sitting down on a commitment free afternoon during Christmas break and realising you just got paid for whatever work you did before the break started. Until I find myself in that glorious moment, however, hell must be endured and thus I found my momentary pre-exam escape in a place I never thought I'd find it - Andrew Dominik's film Killing Them Softly. 

The film begins in interesting fashion, showing a dark hallway with a sunlit lot at it's entrance. As the camera moves towards the lot ,  an audio clip of an Obama speech fades in and out, being methodically interrupted by static. We're in 2008 it seems, and more importantly, the economy is in the toilet. 

The middle-class, so shamelessly pursued in the most recent U.S. election, are apparently not the only ones struggling. Enter dry cleaning service owner John Amato and his contemporary Frankie, who are looking to make some good money off of a job stealing money from a poker game.  Usually such a stunt would result in someone getting hunted down and killed, but because owner of the game Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta) once arranged a theft of his own poker game, Amato figures the blame will be logically displaced. The problem is that the goonish Frankie needs a partner, eventually finding one in his idiotic friend Russell. The heist is pulled off, but the aftermath is botched, leaving Mafia hit man Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) to set things right. 

Now having read that little summary, you probably expect a film involving high speed chases, typical violence and some shots of Brad Pitt being bad ass, but I'm going to have to disappoint you in that regard. In describing his preference for killing people, Cogan explains that he likes to do it coldly and from afar, as to avoid the pleading and mess that accompanies murders. Funnily enough, this not only explains the film's title but also explains the nature of the film itself. In fact, I can summarize the movie very easily by a simple formula:

dialogue...laughter...dialogue..laughter...dialogue..bang! And yet as a whole, it finds a way to work. 

The main reason the film is any good at all is actually the dialogue. Although at times seemingly unnecessarily long (one conversation in particular takes ten minutes), there were times where I could not stop laughing. James Gandolfini is hilarious as Cogan's friend Mickey, reminding you of that one horny kid amongst your college friends with a mouth dirtier than than a pig's backside and supposedly the experience to go with it.  Similarly, the combination of Scoot McNairy (fresh from Argo) and Ben Mendelsohn as the hopeless Frankie and Russell respectively, carries the front half of the film. And yet, for most viewers this movie will be terrible. Why? Because the plot isn't really being carried anywhere anytime soon. This was so much the case that everyone I saw the film with seemed in caught off guard when it was actually over. 

Killing  Them Softly is not an action movie with a couple funny lines, some boobs, and a thrilling plot. Full stop. It's slow and deliberate, the nature of its progression reminding me of when my dad used to ask me if I wanted to "go for a drive" with him for no apparent reason for the sake of enjoying the weather. However, the film does have a reason in it's not-so-subtle social commentary. It is here that Brad Pitt makes his contribution as Cogan, going about his job with all the routine efficiency of a plumber concerned only about getting paid his hefty fees for a burst pipe that could have been avoided. That metaphor clung in my head throughout the occasional focusing of the camera on speeches made by Bush at the start of the financial crisis, with all the characters in the film calling foul on the promise of a united nation while Obama's campaign speeches of unity ring almost nostalgically in the background.  I understood what the film was trying to say and found it to be good, although perhaps not one to put next to Goodfellas on my DVD Shelf. 

Woah...we've got a social commentary up in here

Sadly, I find myself asking if this film will find the audience that will enjoy it; especially in an autumn and winter season that has moviegoers ecstatic. What is most ironic is that the driving theme behind the film is what will kill it's success. No one goes for joy rides when petrol is this expensive and let's be honest, we're all still broke.