133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

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swo17
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133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#1 Post by swo17 » Tue May 28, 2013 10:19 am

Simon Killer

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A deeply disturbing character study of a handsome and sociopathic American in Paris, writer-director Antonio Campos's Simon Killer hones further the psychological perceptiveness and keen filmmaking craft exhibited in Campos's acclaimed feature debut Afterschool.

Brady Corbet (Melancholia, Thirteen, Martha Marcy May Marlene) plays Simon, a recent college graduate full of promise and potential, who goes to Paris to begin a trip around Europe following a break-up with a long-time girlfriend. An outsider adrift upon a profound sense of loss, Simon takes solace in the company of Victoria (Mati Diop of 35 Shots of Rum), a beautiful, young, and mysterious prostitute — and their fateful journey begins...

Emotionally compelling and visually stunning, Simon Killer is an examination of casual brutality, profane sexuality, alienation, and desperation, all cut to a killer soundtrack that underscores the borderline psychotic fervour of Simon's descent. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the UK debut of Antonio Campos's powerful, hypnotic, and remarkably assured Simon Killer on Blu-ray and DVD.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• 1080p Blu-ray presentation of the film in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio
• Behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage from the production of the film
• Sundance Alumni interview with Antonio Campos and producers Sean Durkin and Josh Mond
The Last 15 - Campos's Palme d'Or nominated short film
The Case of the Conscious Camera - A 29-minute interview with Campos on the aesthetics of Simon Killer
Conversations with Moms - an interview with Campos, Brady Corbet, and their mothers
• Original theatrical trailer
• Optional English subtitles (SDH also available)
• Booklet featuring a new and exclusive essay by critic Karina Longworth; a new interview with Antonio Campos; a visual primer on the development of the poster art; and more!

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: Forthcoming: Simon Killer

#2 Post by warren oates » Tue May 28, 2013 12:41 pm

As a fan of the promising director's first feature, I can certainly understand how MOC would have wanted to take a serious look at his second one. What's more difficult to understand is how, in the course of that consideration, they didn't see through it entirely. Or how, in light of the wealth of contemporary world cinema that might have taken its place instead, MOC deemed this pretentious and wholly uninteresting failure, this poster boy for art film indulgence and opacity, worthy of a slot in its esteemed line-up.

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EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Forthcoming: Simon Killer

#3 Post by EddieLarkin » Tue May 28, 2013 1:13 pm

As far as I can tell, this was a wholly Eureka acquisition, and they have been plugging it for months. Today is the first I've heard about it now coming from MoC. I've not seen it, but have read some very disappointing reviews (unlike Computer Chess, which despite it's "mumblecore" label is acclaimed all round). I hope it won't dilute the brand.

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
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Re: Forthcoming: Simon Killer

#4 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Tue May 28, 2013 1:30 pm

All of MoC's previous contemporary releases have been excellent (Soul Power) or masterpieces (Mad Detective and Tokyo Sonata). That said, the very near release date and the lack of mention on their official Twitter leads me to believe it was probably foisted by Eureka. I hated Afterschool (Haneke-lite) and wasn't interested in this one bit, but can say confidentially that their release of a masterpiece like Computer Chess will cancel this out.

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eerik
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Re: ??? / BD 63 Simon Killer

#5 Post by eerik » Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:41 pm

  • 1080p Blu-ray presentation of the film in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio
  • Behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage from the production of the film
  • Sundance Alumni interview with Antonio Campos and producers Sean Durkin and Josh Mond
  • The Last 15 - Campos s Palme d Or nominated short film
  • The Case of the Conscious Camera - A 29-minute interview with Campos on the aesthetics of Simon Killer
  • Conversations with Moms - an interview with Campos, Brady Corbet, and their mothers
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Optional English subtitles(SDH also available)
  • Booklet featuring a new and exclusive essay by critic Karina Longworth; a new interview with Antonio Campos; a visual primer on the development of the poster art; and more!

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Cronenfly
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:04 pm

Re: ??? / BD 63 Simon Killer

#6 Post by Cronenfly » Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:10 pm

eerik wrote:
  • Conversations with Moms - an interview with Campos, Brady Corbet, and their mothers
Prize for the year's most bizarre supplement?

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: ??? / BD 63 Simon Killer

#7 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:36 pm

Cronenfly wrote:
eerik wrote:
  • Conversations with Moms - an interview with Campos, Brady Corbet, and their mothers
Prize for the year's most bizarre supplement?
There's a couple of moments in the film specifically regarding mothers in the film. Makes sense, I guess. Andrew Bujalski did a funnier variation years ago with a commentary track on Mutual Appreciation feature the parents of the cast and crew.

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: ??? / BD 63 Simon Killer

#8 Post by manicsounds » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:05 pm

Also "The Other Guys" had a 'mom-mentary' track with Will Ferrell, Adam MacKay's mothers.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: ??? / BD 63 Simon Killer

#9 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:17 am

Not a DVD (though it's on DVD), but Space Ghost Coast to Coast did an episode called "Mommentary" back in 2001, which was a previous episode overlaid with a commentary from the producers' moms. Then they did two more episodes with commentaries on the commentary.

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manicsounds
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Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#10 Post by manicsounds » Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:21 pm


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manicsounds
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Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#11 Post by manicsounds » Sat Aug 17, 2013 7:34 pm

BlurayDefinition gives a poor score to the movie, but high scores to technical quality and extras.

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Camera Obscura
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:27 pm
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Re: Forthcoming: Simon Killer

#12 Post by Camera Obscura » Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:44 pm

warren oates wrote:As a fan of the promising director's first feature, I can certainly understand how MOC would have wanted to take a serious look at his second one. What's more difficult to understand is how, in the course of that consideration, they didn't see through it entirely. Or how, in light of the wealth of contemporary world cinema that might have taken its place instead, MOC deemed this pretentious and wholly uninteresting failure, this poster boy for art film indulgence and opacity, worthy of a slot in its esteemed line-up.
Wholly agree (and very surprised MoC picked this one up...).
I haven't seen his first feature, but this was easily one of the most cringe-inducing films I've seen all year (still slapping myself for not walking out on this one, hated every minute of it..). There's something extremely depressing about a director who sincerely seems to think that 'American alienation in Paris' (it's fairly obsessive about language issues in the most childish way imaginable) is an interesting subject (the 10 Parisian minutes in Frances Ha beat this one easily). It's a largely improvised movie, but when the night/erotic club scenes were so completely uninteresting, non-erotic and didn't even manage to come up with a single angle to make his journey remotely engaging (or maybe, that's the point? The blandness and banality of it all...?)

Even more depressing, I was convinced this was about an eighteen-year old, but this was a guy who turned out to be in his late twenties...

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#13 Post by tenia » Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:36 pm

Region locked screen :

Image

I agree with most of the above : it's quite uninteresting. Mostly, it's not bad. The actors especially are all quite compelling, but it's just plain boring. It feels like it has been seen 1000 times before, and is done in a too-many-times pretentious way, like these neverending discussions shot in ping-pong tracking shots.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#14 Post by zedz » Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:58 pm

I have to agree with most of the negative comments about this film. Heaven protect us from callow young filmmakers trying desperately to appear edgy, with sex 'n' violence as their first resort. Hint: if you think you're making a deep and meaningful statement for the ages about male violence, you're not. You're just jerking off while wearing surgical gloves.

And I've got to say that the director interview on this is just about the most pretentious and sycophantic thing I've ever seen (hushed reverential tones: "you are the master") - except for maybe that thing on MoC's Colossal Youth, but at least in that case the sycophancy was somewhat warranted.

firstlast
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2016 5:41 pm

Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#15 Post by firstlast » Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:13 am

Terrible film, like all of the director's other work.

Mostly I object to the above description of the character as "sociopathic". As far as I know, the number one trait of sociopaths is a superficial charm, disguising their other, more troubling, deep seated issues. This fellow in this film was merely a dull bore, blunt, humorless, uninteresting, self-pitying, spoiled and just in general a real shitbird momma's boy.

I've met and worked with sociopaths (criminal and otherwise) and they were all "charming" and "interesting" (though it's relatively easy to see through the act; in fact it requires a second person who submits to the act to complete a sociopath's personality; what's most disturbing, then, is how easily most of the population is fooled, how willingly they go along with it.)

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#16 Post by tenia » Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:23 am

firstlast wrote:As far as I know, the number one trait of sociopaths is a superficial charm, disguising their other, more troubling, deep seated issues.
Since sociopathy first psychological characteristic is not caring about disregarding other people's rights and feelings, and social norms as a whole, I'm surprised they would ever feel the need to disguising their issues through a superficial charm. Deception is part of sociopaths' MO, but I don't think that's what you're trying to convey here.

I also believe that heavy self-pitying could be seen as an expression of a narcissistic personality disorder.

I'm not saying you're wrong about some of the more superficial aspects of the movie writing itself (I didn't like the movie myself because I felt the character was indeed very superficial), but I don't think it has anything to do with the character somehow not having characteristics of a sociopath. I do think the main character actually has at least some of these traits, but also that him being or not a sociopath in a true medical aspect isn't important. He's just a disturbed violent person, and I don't think he needs to be a true sociopath for the movie to work narratively speaking.

firstlast
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2016 5:41 pm

Re: 133 / BD 63 Simon Killer

#17 Post by firstlast » Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:40 am

Reminded me of Blue Ruin, which was also awful. I despise simpering characters who hesitate to act. If you're gonna kill, for God's sake, get on with it. You can act like a man, Johnny Fontane!

As for the definition of sociopathy, I think we can all agree that everyone on the internet is crazy except for me. Thank you.

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