American Psycho was an interesting movie to say the least. Directed by Mary Harron, American Psycho is a perverse thriller about a rich, young, Manhattan investment banker named Patrick Bateman. Bateman seems like the average 1980's rich guy, he goes to clubs with his friends, talks down to his coworkers, that sort of thing. He uses ten different kinds of moisturizers in the shower and does 1000 crunches every morning. He blends into society perfectly, so much that no one suspects anything beneath his act.
A major theme in this movie is Bateman's desire to maintain a facade of normality. He has a snobby wife to go with his snobby friends, and he possesses no real feelings for any of them. In fact, he often mocks (in his narrations) the kind of lifestyle that his friends and wife live. But beneath this facade of a harmless businessman lies a sadistic murderer. Bateman often vents his frustration by committing heinous acts of physical and sexual violence, often done on complete whim, with no thought to any consequence. He decides he dislikes a rival banker, he hacks his face off with an ax. There is a lot of drug use in the film, and since it is narrated in the first person by Bateman, you aren't sure what is real and what actually happened. Nick pointed out that the story could've been just a big coke trip that Bateman imagined, which I thought was a good point.
I thought that Bateman could've been imagining the murders because they become more sadistic and elaborate as the movie progresses, to the point that it would be EXTREMELY infeasible to not get caught. There is one scene that is a salient feature of the film, where Bateman, covered in blood and wielding a chainsaw, chases a hooker through his apartment building. (They're both completely naked) She bangs on doors, screaming and yelling, and then runs down a circular staircase. We see her nearing the bottom, with Bateman at the top, with his chainsaw poised to fall. And he drops it right through her back. I mean come on.
American Psycho was an interesting movie, but it was a bit too perverse and "out there" for my tastes. It is a movie full of metaphorical messages and subtle undertones about people's social behavior, and it is all very dark and twisted. I would not reccommend it for a family viewing, but still, you could learn a few things about society from watching it.
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I'm not so much a fan of this film as much as I am a fan of Bale's performance in this film. That guy really gets into his movies. Like, terrifyingly into it. My "coke induced dream" theory about the film is just one possible way to look at this film. SPOILERS TO THOSE WHO HAVENT SEEN THIS FILM. At the end as Bateman talks to that guy and he keeps telling him "I'm Patrick Bateman! I killed Paul Allen!" and the guy keeps saying "I saw Paul Allen the other day, your not Patrick Bateman" or whatever, that could just be another testament to how shallow and self-indulgent these businessmen are. Throughout the film, Bateman shows disdain for Paul Allen because he keeps calling him by the wrong name because he just doesn't care enough to get it right. Now at the end Bateman could be discovering that he is just as shallow as the rest, and maybe the man he killed wasn't Paul Allen. Just a theory.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I agree that you should never watch this movie with a loved one. My girlfriend brought it on herself when she told me she WANTED to see it. It's her own fault.
Benny, your essay started out beautifully, but then just faded away. Did you get tired? I've had that happen while writing. Next time just put three dots and (to be continued) and come back to it, ... or don't. Anyway, my recolletion is that the events are all his fantasy. He's really not a rich superstar at all. Isn't that all revealed at the end?
ReplyDeleteI said in class today that I'm bad at analyzing film. This is an example. I didn't even suspect that the film was fantasy until the chainsaw went through her back. Then, I said, (just like you) "come on."
As for you, Nick, the fact that a girlfriend insisted is no excuse. You should have simply over ruled the silly girl, but in a way that made her think you were doing it out of pure love.
I did save the essay midway through and I came back to finish it, but upon re-reading it, I seem to have just lost the focus of the piece. I wasn't quite sure which direction I wanted to take it, so it ended up being not as much a coherent review as it was a mish-mash of my feelings and reactions to the film.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is so much ambiguity in this film that it is difficult to tell if he really was a rich individual or not, after all he could've just as easily imagined the man (who said he ate with Paul Allen a few days before, and accused the main character of not being Patrick Bateman) as a means to absolve himself of any guilt for his misdeeds.
I'd say A.P. is worth a second viewing. I remember liking it at the time.
ReplyDeleteI should apologize for criticizing your post. It's typical of me. I tell the class to post anything and anything.... free associate if you want. Then I criticize it. I welcome a mish-mash. I guess it was just that the essay started out in such a focused way that I was expecting a doctoral dissertation.
Keep doing what you're doing. It's all good, very good.
I thoguht another excellent scene is when he kills Jared Letos character, after going on and on about an album he just dacnes over to him and has time to put on a raincoat. I was shocked and incredibly moved to humor by this scene. It is interesting that I notice whenever he kills someone he goes on and on about a certain album. Meterialism kills, is that what their going for?
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