movie: The Voices
starring:Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton
genre:Crime, Drama
year:2014
format: Netflix Canada
plot: A mentally unstable man kills three women after his cat tells him to.
It's packaged as a comedy, but the subject matter is disturbing. Here's a guy who has a history of mental illness in his family, who's suppose to be on medication for it himself, and has a nearly childlike view of the world. He's tossed into everyday adult situations that cause him to loose his grip on the world around him. Which is shown by the state of his apartment, in his eyes it's a spotless large area, but through the eyes of others it is filthy with dog poop, and blood splattered.
The first murder is by design, an accident. While driving at night, he and his date are hit by a deer, and he believes the best solution is to put the animal down. This terrifies his date who runs from the car, and falls over a tree root. When he catches up to her, still holding the hunting knife, he falls over the same root, falls on top of her the knife plunging into her stomach. He later views her as sleeping beauty in the forest surrounded by cartoon butterflies and daisies. This leads him to keeping her skull in the fridge. The other murders are to keep people from finding out about him.
I dont' think I've ever seen a Ryan Reynolds film that I didn't like. he manages to be able to take any sort of character, be it a walking cartoon or a man with schizophrenia, and make them very believable and enjoyable.
There is a scene where he's got his psychiatrist held hostage, and she tells him that on some level every human hears "voices" telling them they are worthless or to steal, but that not everyone needs to act on them. This seems to trigger something in the character where he decides to stop what he's doing and to face up to it all. It gives him the only real bit of normality for a few moments, something he's been looking for the whole film.
what did I learn? This was a heavy movie. If it had been packaged as a straight up thriller it wouldn't have worked.
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