Killer Joe (2011)

Killer Joe: Directed by William Friedkin. With Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church. When a debt puts a young man’s life in danger, he turns to putting a hit out on his evil mother in order to collect the insurance.

“Famed director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) returns to fine form. Killer Joe, directed by Friedlkin and based on a Tracy Letts story/screenplay, is a fine rendition of the old player getting played murder plot. A vignette of white trash playing out some worst case scenarios with, thankfully, much more photogenic role-players.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film hangs on the roles of three central characters. The protagonist is a twenty-ish down and out loser named Chris played by Emile Hirsch. Hirsch brings a much grittier less Bohemian Johnny Depp to the table and it works here. His character is smart enough to know heu0026#39;s in deep and empty enough to unwittingly dig his hole ever deeper. His younger sister, Dottie, played by Juno Temple is an extremely unique character. Sheu0026#39;s both high functioning and almost mentally deficient in her total naivetéu0026#39; which we are led to think is a mental quirk. She exudes a kind a helplessness with natural beauty that can draw one in. Juno Temple, a relatively new face to American audiences, is quite effective in her portrayal of this integral character. Finally, Matthew McConaughey is perfect in what is actually a supporting role in spite of being the the title character, Killer Joe. McConaughey is in his best element where he is reined in from Hollywood bombast instead dripping with a sleazy lawman/killer persona. These three characters are this movie aptly supported by Gershonu0026#39;s conniving Sharla and Thomas Hayden Churchu0026#39;s witless Ansel.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKiller Joe has a down and dirty indie feel which is totally right. The cinematography is immediate and not artsy in any way as if you are clearly seeing something you wish wasnu0026#39;t happening. The final quarter ramps up with a tour u0026#39;de force of the macabre supplied by McConaugheyu0026#39;s character and taken home with a kind of surprise loose-end u0026quot;wham-bamu0026quot; finale. All in all, this really works and separates itself from more typical murder stories, recommended.”