The new film from Andrew Dominik, Killing them Softly had it's world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, and thanks to our early arrival we were able to get tickets for the 8.30am screening in the Grand Theatre Lumiere. Due to the good looks of Brad Pitt and his presence in Cannes this film has probably received more publicity than any other, but it is deserved? In a word no. The film starts off well with the story of two friends who met in prison, and now both out are still looking to make some money via any means possible.
The story revolves around the robbery of a mafia card game, and the revenge taken to 'save face'. A dark and somewhat mumbling film, at times I found it hard to understand the actors. The action takes place in a nameless American city with many familiar stars - James Gandolfini is doing what he does best as a thug, Ray Liotta is the poker game organiser and Richard Jenkins is the go-between. Brad Pitt is channeling a 70's look in a film that seems to want to be a copy of Pulp Fiction and Drive without the amazing soundtrack, but sadly Killing Them Softly misses the mark by a long way.
The violence is totally gratuitous and the plot doesn't have the twists and turns to make it a classic. Ben Mendelsohn, who you may recognise from Animal Kingdom, is excellent as the dodgy Australian junky trying to make some money by stealing chiuauas and selling them on. His scenes are amongst the best. I do think the casting was well done, especially for the voice of Scoot McNairy, who is the tweedle dee to Meldelsohns tweedle dum. I am sure this film will be a box office success as there is a huge market for violent gangster films, but its a shame the story did not deliver.
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