7 Psychopaths

Here is our review of “7 Psychopaths”, Martin McDonagh’s crazy black comedy with an excellent cast!

Four years after his first surprising feature film, “In Bruges“, Martin McDonagh confirmed to the world his ability as director and screenwriter with “7 Psychopaths“(Seven Psychopaths). A film in which the idea of metacinema and from film to film find an almost nonsense turn in the narrative development that proceeds in the tones of black comedy. With a cast in which the names of Colin Farell And Sam Rockwell among all, the director’s second film is certainly one of the best works of 2012, demonstrating maturity in directing and writing. In this article we try to sum up this little gem that is difficult to classify in a specific genre. Here is ours review from “7 Psychopaths“.

7 Psychopaths – Review of the film by Martin McDonagh

“Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized mainly by a deficit of empathy and remorse, hidden emotions, self-centeredness and deception.
Psychopaths are strongly inclined to engage in deviant behavior and to engage in aggressive acts towards others, as well as to be oriented towards the most violent criminality.
They often look like normal people: they simulate emotions they don’t really feel, or they lie about their identity. ” – from the Wikipedia page on “Psychopathy“

You stole the wrong Shih Tzu

Marty is a film writer in crisis: he cannot find inspiration and is constantly recalled by his wife for his negligence. He doesn’t find a development for a story he has in mind. The story has, coincidentally, as its title “7 Psychopaths“: But he doesn’t even know what kind of subjects to describe and this torments him. His biggest distraction is certainly his best friend, Billy, a declining actor who spends his time stealing dogs to earn his reward, pretending to find them. Accomplice and partner of him is the enigmatic Hans.

While Marty fails to write the stories of the famous seven psychopaths for his film, gangster Charlie Costello stumbles upon their lives. How come? His beloved little dog has been stolen. The criminal will do anything to get his puppy back, even going so far as to kill. However, it is difficult to trust each other. Could all these misadventures eventually lead to inspiration for Marty?

From title to reality

Who are the psychopaths that Marty wants to tell in his film? But above all, what is a psychopath? Often the same does not know he is and this ends up creating incredible inconvenience, as in the definition reported at the beginning of the review. Everything becomes complicated when trying to write a screenplay about them, it is a man who is perhaps surrounded by such figures. And this is precisely the strong point of McDonagh’s film, playing precisely between the real dimension and that of the screenplay: what we want to call metacinema. The film within the film is a gimmick that has already been proposed several times. But here we are talking about the same film, in the film.

Marty (Colin Farell), perhaps out of distraction or his drinking problems, fails to realize that inspiration doesn’t actually come because he chases it. Indeed, he almost avoids it. But rather it is the very idea that repeatedly attacks the writer, forces him to experience it firsthand. Among the intertwining of precise stories (but often also a little forced in an irreverent, never annoying way) he struggles to outline a precise reality, he does not distinguish real life and script well. An absurd clash between dimensions, with the most disparate weapons. The “7 Psychopaths” accentuate this confusion because some belong to the reality surrounding Marty, others to mere fiction for the script. Still others are paradoxically in limbo, belonging to both.

A script that works very well precisely because of this mix of genres and dimensions: the comic and the tragic first merge, then reject each other and then one recalls the other. The Irish director constantly changes direction but without ever reaching the contradiction and without crippling characters and history. In the circle of surrealism and absurdity, he puts everyone in the middle, taking the context and characters to extremes to get ridiculous. He deliberately exaggerates in the construction of characters and contexts without falling into the evidence of the artifice. Everything is coherent and absurdly proportioned.

The grotesque: an evergreen

As the brothers have taught over the years Coen, the grotesque, in the role of black comedy, helps a lot to the success of such a film. The 7 Psychopaths look at that kind of narrative at the “Fargo“, Dealing with drama issues, not just psychopathy, with a refined sarcasm that dampens all tones. From the first, unforgettable sequence we understand what will be proposed to us: between dialogues and almost meaningless quotations, to gratuitous and sudden violence. All seasoned with the perfect timing of each cut of the montage, characters or musical elements entering the scene, to make events more sudden and unexpected.

The biting noir in a grotesque sauce is characterized above all by the sensational interpretations that are the masters. Colin Farrell (second collaboration with the Irish director) e Christopher Walken who have always seemed to be wallowing in these garments. In addition to a sensational Sam Rockwell who instead perhaps was born for the role of Billy. Without forgetting the excellent proof of Woody Harrelson (whose role initially was to be of Mickey Rourke). This is also due to the ability to manage the actors of the Oscar-winning McDonagh.

A black comedy that targets everything, sparing no one. From psychopaths, to animals, passing through French flags and films, too “soft”. E 7 Psicopatici is a jewel because it also knows how to be cold and cynical, making the viewer freeze for a few moments. But returning immediately after with his style that it is not so wrong to define “pulp“. Martin McDonagh keeps the viewer’s attention attentive and never gets bored. I deserve an exceptional dynamism that leads to questioning everything, never taking oneself seriously. And he does it through characters that will not be cult and perhaps will not become one, but who have a unique and perfect charisma to break through the screen.