Seven Psychopaths

I love Martin McDonagh's work. Tried to see this film when it came to theaters this past fall, unfortunately slipped by amongst many others. McDonagh's other two pieces of work that I really liked includes his last major film, In Bruges, and one of his stage plays, The Pillowman. In a word, McDonagh's work is dark. He usually writes stories that are violent, often depicting humanity's more violent and disturbing sides; however, he always manages to bring his stories full circle and end with an - albeit morbid - uplifting ending. Morally positive. At least a debate could made for it. 

Anyways, Seven Psychopaths. This is another movie about movie... er, movie. Well, more a movie about writing a movie. The story gets fairly complicated. To start, we have Colin Farrell as Marty, the struggling screenwriting in LA. (Marty? A screenwriter? Normally I give my eyes a BIG roll when the author inserts himself in the story, especial as a character with the same occupation, but this film feels so inventive and fresh, you let it slide.) He's working on his next big project, appropriately titled, Seven Psychopaths. The story he writes is shaped by the events unfolding in the movie, which are mostly led by his friends who steal dogs and return then to unsuspecting owners for the reward cash. His friends end up kidnapping a devious gangster's beloved Shih-Tzu, which then throws the whole film into a revenge tale of sorts. 

One of the best aspects of McDonagh's work is the dialogue. In this film, it's great. Dirty. Gritty. Just plain fun. Plus many times characters will go off on strange monologues that are truly riveting and also revealing of most of the characters' strange psychopathic ways. If you enjoy Tarantino's dialogues, give McDonagh a shot. 

Along with the monologues, there are many moments when Marty will tell stories in the film. Stories that focus on generating the psychopaths for his screenplay. Keeping in line with the morbid mood of the film, they are gripping to watch - not for those squeamish of blood and murder. 

Finally there's the dark humor. Characters calm reactions to horrific events are pretty funny. Not to mention McDonagh has a fairly good sense of humor to make jabs at himself. Marty (if we consider him McDonagh's persona) gets criticized at one point that he doesn't write good parts for women. Then the film's two leading women (even have listing on the film's poster and trailer) are barely in the film at all. Maybe a couple lines in total. Still, the film makes you chuckle - I contribute a little bit to McDonagh and a little bit to the cast... especially Christopher Walken. 

For those apart of the blog, I would recommend giving this film a watch if it's already passed you by when it was in theaters. A fun, interesting watch.