KILLING THEM SOFTLY was an unlikely film to be financed, in this day and age. It's not especially cool or fast paced, it focuses on giving legendary crime writer George V. Higgins' dialogues the breathing room necessary to grasp their austere beauty and more important, it doesn't have a hero. Yet, that film was not only financed, but also shot and released, by Andrew Dominik, the man behind THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY COWARD ROBERT FORD. I can't think of any reason why anybody interested in making money would have financed such an idiosyncratic movie in the post-seventies, because that's where KILLING THEM SOFTLY belongs. I liked it. I thought it was a little deliberate and obtuse at times, but it's a celebration of everything that's good about George V. Higgins' fiction. It's just that, you know...it's an auteur movie. Not only it feels slightly anachronistic, but it was also a weird choice of source material to craft art around.
KILLING THEM SOFTLY is based on a George V. Higgins' novel originally called COGAN'S TRADE. I don't know why the title was changed to something cornier, but I suppose it doesn't matter. The Cogan in question is Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a mafia hitman brought in by a Massachussets crime syndicate in complete disarray, to restore order in town after a card game heist. The problem seems straightforward enough since the card game had already been heisted by its very organizer Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta) in the past and Trattman got away with it. Jackie immediately understands that it's not as simple as it seems, but restoring order in town takes precedence on simply punishing the culprits, so a certain course of action must be taken. Jackie happens to be the man you need for this type of situation.
I was saying, it's an auteur movie. It left me unsure whether Andrew Dominik wanted to honor Higgins' novel or use it to make a point. For example, the movie starts with a shot through a tunnel, with garbage floating in the wind and a lonely man, walking through, looking broken while a Barack Obama speech is playing in the background. I thought it was clever enough. A little obvious maybe, but still clever. Only problem is that Andrew Dominik turns that idea into a gimmick that follows the character throughout the whole movie. There must be seven or eight scenes where a character is walking into a setting and a political speech is playing in the background. Brad Pitt's character Cogan even comments on it once. One time would've been fine, but it takes a disproportionate place throughout the film, which is ironic and comes off as judgmental because the director is not American. He is Australian, born in New Zealand. The heavy handed political message was unnecessary.
KILLING THEM SOFTLY is based on a George V. Higgins' novel originally called COGAN'S TRADE. I don't know why the title was changed to something cornier, but I suppose it doesn't matter. The Cogan in question is Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a mafia hitman brought in by a Massachussets crime syndicate in complete disarray, to restore order in town after a card game heist. The problem seems straightforward enough since the card game had already been heisted by its very organizer Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta) in the past and Trattman got away with it. Jackie immediately understands that it's not as simple as it seems, but restoring order in town takes precedence on simply punishing the culprits, so a certain course of action must be taken. Jackie happens to be the man you need for this type of situation.
I was saying, it's an auteur movie. It left me unsure whether Andrew Dominik wanted to honor Higgins' novel or use it to make a point. For example, the movie starts with a shot through a tunnel, with garbage floating in the wind and a lonely man, walking through, looking broken while a Barack Obama speech is playing in the background. I thought it was clever enough. A little obvious maybe, but still clever. Only problem is that Andrew Dominik turns that idea into a gimmick that follows the character throughout the whole movie. There must be seven or eight scenes where a character is walking into a setting and a political speech is playing in the background. Brad Pitt's character Cogan even comments on it once. One time would've been fine, but it takes a disproportionate place throughout the film, which is ironic and comes off as judgmental because the director is not American. He is Australian, born in New Zealand. The heavy handed political message was unnecessary.
Richard Jenkins didn't have a big part, but as usual, he's excellent.
It's too bad, because when the film sticks to the material, it's quite enthralling. Andrew Dominik's long, slow scenes have a strong, distinctive identity. The actual card game heist scene left a deep impression on me. Dominick films the two robbers, played by Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, actually walking to the card game from outside the building. My heart rate raised as they walked into the hallway up to the game, and the player's chatter became gradually louder. That was really well done and focused on tension rather than action. In crime fiction, tension without action can work, but action without tension is just a random series of violent events and the fiction of George V. Higgins is all about tension. Dominik gets that and it translates whenever he's busy translating the actual material on screen.
The cast is a tremendous help. Brad Pitt knocks it out of the part again as Cogan. He is cold, professional and seems to have that rational interest in the work. He helps tremendously to build a strange, yet loveable persona around Jackie Cogan which is central to the storyline. Ray Liotta's performance is also of an admirable accuracy, now that his face seems jammed in botox and other rejuvenating products. Richard Jenkins is his usual badass self. Only part I didn't quite get was James Gandolfini's. I didn't read COGAN'S TRADE, but I have no idea what his character was supposed to mean in the movie. To me, it seemed that they hired James Gandolfini to be James Gandolfini on screen, for whoever was nostalgic of Tony Soprano. That character could have been cut from the screenplay. Loved that there were no lead female character. Gritty crime fiction is always a tad more credible when it's a sausage fest.
I'll say it out loud, KILLING THEM SOFTLY was a good movie, but it too self-involved and pretentious for my own taste. I'm a believer that filmmaking should be first and foremost a narrative art and taking a great story to ride, so you can pass your own socio-economic message is a sure way to make me cringe. Andrew Dominik is a talented artistic mind, but he loves himself quite a bit. If you love what you do better than your fans do, I got an issue with that. Southern writer and bottomless pit of wisdom Harry Crews said it best: "Just tell the storeh." The good ultimately outweighs the bad in KILLING THEM SOFTLY, thanks to the immortal strength of George V. Higgins' words and a terrific, passionate performance by most of the cast. Don't expect the world out of KILLING THEM SOFTLY, you can't knock a movie for operating outside the conventions with so much gusto. It will take effort, you will roll your eyes a few times, but it won't leave a bitter taste.
THREE STARS