I was quite surprised with Simon Killer. I didn’t know exactly what I’d expected, but this film surprised me. Firstly, let’s start with the negatives. The film could have easily been a bit shorter. The film stretches scenes out for an annoyingly long period of time. Sometimes it works because it’s building a solid atmosphere. Other times, it does not and it feels like the story grinds to a stop when there is barely a story to even begin with. However, that’s what I find so appealing about this film. The story is our slow realization of the type of person Simon is. The more we learn about him, the more we grow to dislike him. He starts likable, but the more he manipulates the people around him, the more we don’t like him. In a sense, the film is an anti-coming-to-age film. At the end of the film, it seems like he might be having a realization about the type of person he is. However, he stops just short of coming to that realization and reverts to the same liar and scumbag (that in my mind gets caught for all his misdeeds by the end of the film). Otherwise, the rest of the film’s elements are standard. The characters are easily this film’s driving force. One aspect of the film I did not expect was how much sex was involved in this film, and sometimes, it went on too long. Overall, Simon Killer is a really interesting character study of someone who refuses to evaluate themselves and change for the better.
I was quite surprised with Simon Killer. I didn’t know exactly what I’d expected, but this film surprised me. Firstly, let’s start with the negatives. The film could have easily been a bit shorter. The film stretches scenes out for an annoyingly long period of time. Sometimes it works because it’s building a solid atmosphere. Other times, it does not and it feels like the story grinds to a stop when there is barely a story to even begin with. However, that’s what I find so appealing about this film. The story is our slow realization of the type of person Simon is. The more we learn about him, the more we grow to dislike him. He starts likable, but the more he manipulates the people around him, the more we don’t like him. In a sense, the film is an anti-coming-to-age film. At the end of the film, it seems like he might be having a realization about the type of person he is. However, he stops just short of coming to that realization and reverts to the same liar and scumbag (that in my mind gets caught for all his misdeeds by the end of the film). Otherwise, the rest of the film’s elements are standard. The characters are easily this film’s driving force. One aspect of the film I did not expect was how much sex was involved in this film, and sometimes, it went on too long. Overall, Simon Killer is a really interesting character study of someone who refuses to evaluate themselves and change for the better.
