Seven Psychopaths
U.K. 2012

Opening 6 Dec 2012

Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Writing credits: Martin McDonagh
Principal actors: Michael Pitt, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Abbie Cornish

Here’s a wacky British black comedy written and directed by Martin McDonagh which takes us straight into the heart of a struggling Hollywood’s screenplay writer searching for a script. Tommy (Colin Farrell) puts his pen to paper and starts telling the story of seven psychopaths. At some point their stories are supposed to converge, but that is exactly where he is suffering a writer’s block. Unfortunately his best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) decides to help him out by turning fiction into fact. At the same time Billy and his uncle (Christopher Walken) are stealing local dogs for money. He decides to keep his favorite stolen pet, a cute Shih Tzu which belonged to a top underworld gangster (Woody Harrelson). This action becomes the pivotal point where all these psycho stories converge and Tommy is desperately searching for the conclusion and meaning to this script.

The style of this film feels like a cross between a Tarantino and Jarmusch film and includes lots of offbeat craziness, such as when Tom Waits’ character arrives on the scene with a white bunny in his arms with a psychopath love story. Just one word of warning: this film is not as funny in German as it is in English, so try to see it in the original language. (Shelly Schoeneshoefer)