The Killer Inside Me
(Michael Winterbottom, USA 2010)
If you need to cast a part for a cowardly killer named Ford, holler at your boy Casey Affleck as he’s taken to this description with aplomb on two separate occasions now, and as creepy, psycho- Law man, Lou Ford, Affleck really owns this movie, showing that there’s a lot more to him than just being Ben’s baby brother.
Michael Winterbottom has come a long way too, from episodes of British crime drama Cracker to the neo-noir of boom time Texas with stop offs in Madchester and haunted Genoa, it really is difficult to pin him down to one individual style, making his movies all the more alluring.
I haven’t read the pulp novel that this movie is based on but the atmosphere and mood of the movie create an authentic feeling of the time, that will have you drinking whiskey and choking on a cigar without batting an eyelid. The basic plot is that a small town Sheriff, pillar of the local community, spends his free time, violently bullying people and banging a Mexican prostitute, oh, and the occasional brutal murder. There is an underlying theme of capitalism, the emergence of the New West and the relationship that power, trust, corruption and abuse can share but it’s really just a good excuse to see Jessica Alba acting like a whore in slutty underwear and rocking the au naturel brunette look.
Beware that this is not for the faint hearted, if you’re the kind of person that takes care to jump over puddles, you may not enjoy some of the gratuitous violence but if you’re a slimy, abusive pervert, then it may be right up your street.
