Movie Review : Cold in July (2014)

The name if Joe R. Lansdale is a seal of quality in itself, in the small world of hardboiled literature. I don't think he's ever been a best-seller but I don't think anybody's been disppointed by a Lansdale novel, so it's always a minor event (at least for me), when he's getting adapted. I reviewed his novel COLD IN JULY this past July (probably like every other OCD asshole on Earth), because it's been turned into a movie by director Jim Mickle (Stake Land, We Are What We Are) and I was quite excited about that. Oddly enough, the COLD IN JULY movie turned out to be quite surprising. Believe it or not, it found a way to improve an already tremendous experience, at least a little.

Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) shoots a burglar in the face, in self-defense. The kid is identified as Freddy Russel (Wyatt Russell), a career low life who's death won't have any incident on the balance of the universe. Only problem is that Freddy's dad (Sam Shepard) is just out from Huntsville penitentiary prison and he's not happy at all about his son being dead. So, one one hand there's a manhunt going on because Russel is threatening Dane's family and on the other, Dane finds out that the man he killed wasn't Freddy Russel. Shit, they didn't even look anything like one another. Posessed by the idea that a man should always do the right thing, Richard Dane takes on himself to untangle a mess the police has created using another man's family.

The COLD IN JULY novel is so much fun, because it's wild and unpredictable. The movie adaptation manages to keep what made the novel special intact, but it also (surprisingly) irons out a few far fetched details and improves the cohesiveness of the experience. I did not expect that. For example, one of the most frustrating details of the novel is that Richard Dane goes to the police station himelf to ask for Russel's liberation. The movie found a more dramatic, shit even a more Lansdalesque way of dealing with that wrinkle. It's beautiful, so I won't ruin it for you. The involvement of Dane's wife Ann (Vinessa Shaw) was also cut to a minimum. It's going to anger some who understandably loved her relastic input to the story, but it works. 

Jim Bob Luke is the quintessential Lansdalesque character. So you know, don't fuck with Jim Bob Luke.

Have I told you about the final shootout scene? My fellow Lansdale nerds know exactly what I'm talking about. Calling it epic wouldn't do it justice. Calling it immortal wouldn't do it justice either. It's one of the most intense shootout scene I remember reading about. Well, guess what? It is so FUCKING well-rendered in the movie. There's none of that shaky cam bullshit. None of that ''suggested violence'' either. The final shootout of COLD IN JULY doesn't go out of its way to be gory, but HOLY FUCKING TITS, it doesn't back away either. If I had any qualms with this movie adaptation, I didn't remember what they were after that scene. COLD IN JULY honours Joe Lansdale by being a movie with a massive pair of balls, but if you're a fiend for a good shootout scene, just watch it for that magnificent one. It's one of the memorable scenes I've seen in the last couple years and I watch about 100 movies a year.

If you liked the COLD IN JULY novel, the movie is just what you need. If you're not much of a reader, the movie is aslo just what you need. Just watch the damn movie. I wasn't familiar with the work of director Jim Mickle, but COLD IN JULY is a terrific calling card. I was afraid the movie would just go through the motions of an already badass novel and not pack any surprises, but I was clearly wrong about that. Don't let the hound of Hollywood dictate what you should see, this fall. Take a detour and make an effort to track down COLD IN JULY. It's a small production with a humble distribution, but it's going to kick your ass and find its way to countless lists of overlooked movies 5 years from now.