Lebende Ziele (1998)

Lebende Ziele: Directed by David Dobkin. With Joaquin Phoenix, Gregory Sporleder, Georgina Cates, Scott Wilson. After hearing that his wife sleeps with Clay, Earl kills himself, making it look like Clay shot him. The widow doesn’t like it when Clay starts sees another woman instead. Bodies start piling up.

“u0026quot;Clay Pigeonsu0026quot; is a black comedy centering on a young man named Clay Birdwell, who works as a Montana gas station attendant. He is having an affair with his best friendu0026#39;s wife, Amanda. His best friend, Earl, knows about this, however. Thus he kills himself one day, and cleverly frames Clay for the murder. Clay, feeling both afraid and awkward, covers this incident up by making the death look like a suicide. The police fall for it and Clay puts this mess behind him. This film, both written and directed by newcomer David Dobkin, is the most original movie I have seen in a long while. Think about it, we havenu0026#39;t had a movie this clever and blackly comic since u0026quot;Fargo,u0026quot; possible one of the best movies I have ever scene. The characters are so unique, while they donu0026#39;t generate much sympathy from the audience; they still are extremely fun to watch.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe performances are another great element in the movie. Vince Vaughn portrays Lester Long like he did in the recent u0026quot;Psychou0026quot; remake. His style, giggle, attitude, and presence are all priceless. Joaquin Phoenix takes us though a funny joyride as he gets into more and more trouble as Clay. Letu0026#39;s not forget Georgina Cates, as the slutty wife of Earl. She plays cocky character who everyone loves to hate. The only character I could find is Janeane Garofalou0026#39;s, who was surly inspired by Frances MacDormand from u0026quot;Fargo.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe filmu0026#39;s soundtrack is of the best there is, with songs that not only further the characteru0026#39;s motives, but are also catchy and even describe some of the movieu0026#39;s plot at times. I have owned the soundtrack even before I saw the movie, which is quite unusual. But once I heard the theme song to u0026quot;Clay Pigeonsu0026quot;: u0026quot;The Ballad of Lester Long,u0026quot; I had to get it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enI do think that this movie could have been better, however. If it had left a few more elements to the imagination, like the guilt or innocence of Clay Birdwell, and the explicit murder and sex scenes, maybe the viewer would be l bit more involved into the story. A little less plot and a little fewer characters would have also been nice.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut those are but minor complaints. I was looking forward to seeing this movie for a long time, and I was not that disappointed. u0026quot;Clay Pigeonsu0026quot; is one of the years most entertaining and original films.”