tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643714587047748844.post4995552952780401239..comments2023-12-05T22:38:15.929-08:00Comments on Fr. Dennis at the Movies: Killer Joe [2012]Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643714587047748844.post-33072765696507481742012-09-21T23:44:59.664-07:002012-09-21T23:44:59.664-07:00Hi Lorelai, thanks for your comment but I honestly...Hi Lorelai, thanks for your comment but I honestly think that you rather limited and needlessly prejudicial view of a priest. Religion at its core is about life, its ups and its downs, its joys and its sorrows. Hence almost any story is open to theological inquiry. Then in terms of objectivity, as a Catholic (belonging to a Church that sees itself as universal, hence big enough for everybody) I would imagine that I'd probably be more objective than most people. <br /><br />Seriously. Do you realize how many films are made that depend on portraying one or another group in a villainously stereotypical fashion?<br /><br />Consider simply this film. The premise of this film is that a bunch of poor white "hicks" are so stupid/evil that they decide to kill their mother/ex-wife for insurance money and barter off their sister/daughter to their hired-gun as collateral. At its core it is an awfully prejudicial premise. Yet, clearly entire swathes of the American population buys into the premise "Yes 'hicks' could be that stupid / evil..." <br /><br />As a priest who works with a lot of blue-collar folk here in Chicago and worked with a lot of white country folk when I was stationed down in Florida, I can call the film-makers (viewers) out on this. And in my work I've _also_ worked with African Americans, Haitians, and Asians / Hispanics of pretty much all nationalities / stripes. <br /><br />So you'd be hard pressed to find anyone both in print or with a blog on the internet who's been as consistent on combating prejudices whatever they are as I have. <br /><br />So honestly, I'm about as objective as they come and frankly far more than most.Dennis Krizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16913610930132868134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643714587047748844.post-58844815390107249892012-09-21T17:23:43.422-07:002012-09-21T17:23:43.422-07:00I don't think that as a fr you can really exam...I don't think that as a fr you can really examine films objectively,for instance roman polanski's films must be off limits to you,due to the character of the director,and therefore your view will never be a fully rounded or informed one,which is what one aims for when reviewing anything.Lorelaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05106632666646492202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643714587047748844.post-56472421781501366502012-08-22T07:12:23.328-07:002012-08-22T07:12:23.328-07:00Hi Alex, thanks for your comment. On the IMDb mess...Hi Alex, thanks for your comment. On the IMDb message board, I've read similar explanations. I suppose my main complaint would be that the film-makers made the film intentionally fuzzy on the point of how old "Dotty" was.<br /><br />Clearly the actress herself could not have been under 18 or else everybody involved in that scene would have been in jail by now.<br /><br />But earlier on in the film, Dotty was talking to her step-mother about her "first boyfriend" who she said she had when she was in third grade. As she talked to her step-mother it became clear that this "boyfriend" was only in her head, in the way that one would assume a really young person would pretend when trying to persuade someone older that "he/she" is more mature than she really is.<br /><br />Then her bedroom was filled with stuffed animals/unicorns and all that. At minimum, the film-makers intentionally portrayed her as "naive." So when I heard "twelve," I took her for her/the film-makers' word.<br /><br />Consider also simply my occupation and the recent history of the Catholic Church in the United States. I and every priest in the country now is a _mandatory reporter_ when it comes to child abuse now. <br /><br />I've also had to personally deal with a case of someone who's now on a sex offenders' list for having picked-up someone at a bar who turned out to be under-age. The minor involved was happy as pie that someone "so hot" would find her attractive enough to take her home, but her parents looked at the matter, well, differently. And now the guy is on a sex offender list basically forever. So this kind of "age bending" is not exactly funny ... (to me anyway).<br /><br />Roger Ebert mentioned in his review that there were at least 6 scenes in the film that were difficult to watch. I assume that this was the first. I simply could not go on, especially since this one arguably required me the viewer to participate in (is it or isn't it? it can't possibly be ... or wouldn't all involved be in jail?) child rape. I honestly didn't want to know what else could possibly follow.<br /><br />But I would say that the scene got me up and out the door was _very well filmed_ (as I mention in my review arguably making the viewer as culpable in that scene as "Joe" was). And I would imagine that a film-maker _could_ intentionally make a film that was to be unwatchable, basically telling the audience: "If you actually sat there and watched my film all the way through, you missed my point." And I'd certainly understand that intention of the film-maker.Dennis Krizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16913610930132868134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2643714587047748844.post-58804157965819531942012-08-22T05:24:45.576-07:002012-08-22T05:24:45.576-07:00I get that you didn't like it, it's a pret...I get that you didn't like it, it's a pretty damn polarizing film, but to clear something up, Juno Temple's character was not 12 years old, she's in her 20s. She has a scene in the film where she tells Joe: “When I was 16 years old, Chris and I used to watch Mommy and Daddy fight."<br /><br />Her mother and father have been divorced for several years, so Temple's character is in her 20s.<br /><br />She says she is 12 during the sex scene because that's how old she was when she first fell in love. McConaughey says he is 12 as well, because, well, why the hell not.Alex Withrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15887018476048271594noreply@blogger.com