04/04/06 Killing Zoe

Killing Zoe (1994), directed by Roger Avary

watched w/ Leslie (partially); DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

When Quentin Tarantino hit it big with his blood-spattered gangster flick "Reservoir Dogs" (brilliant, by the way), it ushered in a new take on an old theme. The in-your-face approach to violence, sex, drugs, and crime that holds about it an aura of cool & homage to early flicks that achieved the same carnage in either subdued or censored ways. Now that violence is o.k. in mainstream film (heck, video games for that matter), it is embraced and choked to death by most cinema. Director Avary here is a friend & co-conspirator with Tarantino, and both have the same flare for wicked delivery. While not quite as polished as Tarantino's work, this bloodbath holds it's own in the same realm. Eric Stoltz plays an American safe-cracker who jumps aboard a team of would-be bank robbers on Bastille Day in Paris, with the aid of his psychotic French friend. Trying to find reasoning for his work amidst the drugged out killing spree his so-called buddy wants to partake in, Stoltz must come to terms with morality and mortality. Along the way he meets a beautiful young girl (prostitute by night, bank teller by day) Zoe who just so happens to work at said bank to be robbed by the crew. Everyone seems to want to kill Zoe (hmmm, title perhaps), except her new found love Zed (Stoltz). Guns, drugs, sex, and cigarettes (because they're French)! And to think that I came this close (holding index finger and thumb within millimeters of each other to express a very short distance) to seeing "Nanny McPhee" at a High Point $2 movie theater tonight. It's a long story, but it suffices to say that my car broke down this weekend in Greensboro...AAA sucks...car repairs are expensive...and being without vehicle for days on end in this day & age is no fun...but I digress. "Killing Zoe" was great, killing my car is tempting. Side note: this is the 100th movie I've enjoyed/endured so far with the Challenge.

4 out of 5 stars