The Fairy is a French film which is clearly indebted to the cinema of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton. That visual allusion to cinema’s silent comedians isn’t new though, with comparisons being made to those comedians films, when this trio of directors, released their 2008 dance-extravaganza, Rumba. A film which was called, “Tati-esque”.
The Fairy is about Dom, a lonely man who works the night shift in a small hotel, which is near the sea port of Le Havre -last seen in Kaurismäki’s film. On an evening like any other, a strange woman appears with no luggage or shoes, and she informs, Dom, that she is, in fact, a fairy. The fairy is called Fiona, and she offers to grant Dom three wishes. Fiona makes two of Dom’s wishes come true but before she can grant his third and final wish, Fiona, disappears. So our love-struck protagonist begins his search for his mysterious fairy. If you enjoyed Rumba or if you’re fan of Tati or Keaton, then this should be worth a watch!
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Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) owes money to the wrong sort of people and when his life is threatened he decides that desperate times, call for desperate measures. So Chris, his sister and father, decide to murder their less-than-pleasant mother/wife, and cash-in her life insurance. But to do so, they must enlist the help of one Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey).
Over the last 10 years it’s fair to say that Billy Friedkin has made his fair share of rubbish, but then in 2006 came Bug starring Michael Shannon, and he wiped the slate clean. Killer Joe’s screenplay is written by that film’s scribe and playwright, Tracey Letts, and coupled with all the positive media coverage, it’s fair to say, I’m a little bit excited. Some of Friedkin’s films can be bloated and more than a little dull, but when he’s ‘on’, he is a talent to behold.
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