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Michael Fbender in David Fincher’s latest film, The Killer, presented at the 80e Venice Film Festival. netflix
The director of Seven And Zodiac stages his obsessions in an exercise in applied style. Airing on Netflix November 10.
Since the Golden Lion awarded to Rome ofAlfonso Cuarón in 2018, Netflix tries to reissue the performance on the Lido. Unlike Cannes, Venice is rolling out the red carpet on streaming platforms and this year again, Netflix has placed several feature films in competition. After the needy El Condé by Pablo Larrain And Maestro of bradley cooper, The Killer of David Fincher was unveiled in world premiere on Sunday on the lagoon. Fincher is not anyone for Reed Hastings’ platform. He was the first prestigious filmmaker poached to create the series house of cards Then mindhunter . He then signed Mank, a personal black and white film on the genesis of Citizen Kane ofOrson Wellesfrom a screenplay written by his own father, Jack Fincher, a great journalist (editor of Life Magazine) and avid film buff, who died in 2003.
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When promoting mank Fincher expressed in the magazine Première his loyalty to Netflix: “Depending on how Mank is received, I’ll either walk up to them sheepishly and ask what I can do to redeem myself, or show up with the attitude of the arrogant hole who will demand to make more films in black and white (…) I’m here to deliver “content” to them – whatever that word means – that can bring viewers to them, within my small sphere of influence.”
Series B scenario
With The Killer, it looks like Fincher wants to make amends. It’s a color film, a B series scenario taken from the comic book by writer Alexis Nolent (under the pseudonym Matz) and illustrator Luc Jacamon (Casterman editions). The story of a contract killer (Michael Fbender) who turns against his sponsor. Deja-vu and deja-heard, such as this voice-over of the solitary and meticulous killer, who kills time by exposing a philosophy after all agreed in his profession: “Each for himself, kill or be killed, empathy is a weakness”. Or his method: “Anticipate, don’t improvise, trust no one.”
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Only here, if we know the song since the Samurai of Melville, Fincher’s orchestration is his own. We recognize his style, clinical and sharp, from the first part, located in Paris, while the killer waits for his target in a building. She launches a trip to several regions of the world (Dominican Republic, New Orleans, Florida, London, Los Angeles) like so many chapters of cold-blooded revenge. With a heat stroke. If the killer most often only needs a bullet to eliminate his targets, his melee with “the Brute” is more demanding. With this single sequence, brutal and ferocious, the author of fight club proves that he has not lost his touch.
The hit man is only a variation of the serial killer, a figure so prized by Fincher (Seven , Zodiac , mindhunter ). He projects his obsessions (paranoia, self-destruction, ultra-violence) and his unoptimistic vision of the world onto it. They surface in this exercise in style which could end Fincher’s collaboration with Netflix. His five-year exclusive contract ends in 2024. We are already curious to know what continuation the ex-child terrible of Hollywood will give to his career.