Seven Psychopaths (2012)

- A screenwriter's therapy: insanely entertaining

Seven Psychopaths is Martin McDonagh's fusion of Charlie Kaufmann's "Adaptation" and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction". In his second movie after the acclaimed and brillant debut "In Bruges" the famous Irish playwright experiments with narrative, toys with genre clichés and creates some really weird, psychotic characters.

The protagonist, Marty, is a screenwriter struggling to finish his latest project - or rather find a way to begin with. The (alcohol-addicted) man only has a title for his new screenplay so far, "Seven Psychopaths". His ambition is to write a story that is not the usual Hollywood-fare about madness, violence and death. Marty plans to tackle the subject from a new perspective and wants his film to be life-affirming and uplifting in theme and tone. His friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) who is quite amused by this idea, tries to help Marty to get the thing going. While Marty throws some ideas around in his head it is clear that we watch the writer/director Martin McDonagh in a process of selfreflection. Just like Charlie Kaufmann in "Adaptation" it is the portrayal of the creative process that eventually results in the movie that the writer and the character wanted to do in the first place - more or less. As Charlie is not able to make a film where "nothing much happens, where people don't change, don't have any epiphanies, struggle, are frustrated and nothing is resolved " Martin McDonagh's Marty is not quite able to avoid to get into trouble either. Seven Psychopaths is genuinly nasty at times and doesn't shy away from some bloody bullets in the head, thrilling throat slicings and burning buddhists.

To get his screenwriting issues into a narrative McDonagh comes up with a subplot to pull us through the story. While Marty is making his living as an author, Billy has his own business with his partner Hans, terrifically played by Christopher Walken, who gets some of the best lines in the film. The two men kidnap dogs and then return the missing animal to recieve the reward. It's some easy money until they pick out the beloved dog of a ruthless gangster called Charlie (Woody Harrelson), who is someone you really don't want to upset. His quick temper and his obsessive relationship with his shih tzu causes him to do anything necessary to find the people in charge. Marty soon finds himself in the middle of it all and has to fear about his life. But Harrelson may not be the only psychopath around him ...

The story itself lacks the sincerity and profundity of "In Bruges" and also feels less accomplished in terms of its dramatic structure. There are moments when the plot literally seems to be lost in the desert and doesn't move forward. But it is nontheless a quite clever script that manages to find a way out and complete the film's arc. The most exciting thing about it is that the film constantly toys with the audience by raising expectations and eventually turning them around 180 degrees - and sometimes continues to 360 degrees. Especially the information about the characters changes our perspective on their motivations and also challenges our sympathies in the course of the film. It is also quite interesting to see McDonagh create different layers of narration and his resolution. (I like that it has layers!) It's not quite as elegantly done as in "Adaptation" but well enough to transport the film to the next level. To be frank, the plot itself is a bunch of baloney. But the writer's story with all its "metatextual" correlations develops on this premise, doubles back on itself or turns its motives upside down.

Aside of that it is McDonaghs good ear for dialogue and some brutally funny lines that guide through the film. Even without too much context this is first class entertainment that contains hilarious set pieces and a whole lot of nods to other screen killers and/or psychopaths such as in "Taxi Driver", "The devil's rejects", "The Boondock Saints" and of course Hitchcock's "Psycho".

The brillant cast easily makes you forget about the film's sometimes uneven construction. In a short appearances Tom Waits delivers the least outgoing but one of the weirdest performances in the film as a killer who wants to see his story in Marty's film. There is no doubt about this guys insanity, but nontheless his motivation might be a surprise. Just like the killers in "In Bruges", all of the seven psychopaths - crazy as they naturally are - show a human component in their personality that remains and that adds a nice flavor to all the outrageous mayhem. If you don't plan to see this you must be out of your fucking mind.

TRAILER:
Watch the Trailer for 'Seven Psychopaths' on Youtube