THE KILLERS Review – Fantasia International Film Festival 2024

Starting off “Fantasia 2024” with “The Killers”, a messy anthology film about contract killers that throws everything at the wall and tries its hardest to make it stick.

Synopsis

Four incredibly talented Korean filmmakers, four intriguing cinematic visions, four astounding stories revolving around murderers for hire, with elements of horror, suspense, dark comedy, neo-noir, and more.

Review
The hitman genre is nothing new – it has been subverted (“Pulp Fiction”), reframed (“The Killer”) and retouched (“John Wick”) time and time again. Swinging for the fences in tone, style and theme, the South Korean anthology film “The Killers”, (from directors Kim Jong-kwan, Roh Deok, Chang Hang-jun and Lee Myung-Se) contains four stories around the lives and misadventures of contract killers. From the professional to the amateur to the undead to the plain ol’ weird, “Killers” is a film that by design, represents the vibrant diversity of “Fantasia International Film Festival 2024”. Each story, paying homage in some way or form to Edward Hopper’s classic painting “Nighthawks”, concerns contract killers running into an obstacle of completing “a job”. Each story is different and there is an uneven mix of tone, story, flow and even composition in each chapter. If there’s anything “The Killers” does not fail or come short of, it’s originality.

The first story “Metamorphosis” (directed by Kim Jong-kwan) concerns a man on the run who walks into a bar and meets a mysterious bartender who dramatically changes his life as the night goes on. “Metamorphosis” is an unfortunate letdown – on paper, it’s a great swing for the fences (as most of this film aims to do), the story mixes hitmen with vampires and while the high concept sounds fun, the execution reveals itself to be lacking. Starting off strong with an intriguing backstory for our protagonist and how he even ended up in this strange bar, the story’s uneven mix of cinematography (switching between Color and Black & White) matched with a slow pace and offbeat humor creates a sluggish, uneven watch. This is easily the worst story of the bunch, not for lack of trying but for lack of execution.

The second story, easily the funniest of the quartet, is “Contractors” (directed by Roh Deok). This is a hilarious, shockingly fact-based story about three amateur criminals who are hired to kidnap and brutally kill their target. Of course, the mission is easily ordered than it is executed. Deok lends a great flow and pace to his story, the rhythm matching its humorous premise. For example, there’s a montage where the hierarchy of hiring a professional is shown in sprawling detail. One person hires another to do the job for him, for three times less than he was paid, that person goes to someone else to do the job, for three times less than they were paid and so on begins the hilarious bureaucracy that goes behind setting up a hit. Deok keeps things fresh with this entry – while he plays around with color and aspect ratio, it doesn’t take away from the film’s fresh pace or dark humor.

The third story “Everyone is Waiting for the Man” (directed by Chang Hang-jun) is easily the most violent and arguably the best of the anthology. When people talk about Contract Killer films, there’s two facets discussed ad nauseum as to why they love them or hate them – the number and execution of kills and the story itself. “Everyone is Waiting..” has both – great, violent kills and a well-paced, tense story. Set in the late 1970s, a group of strangers including two detectives and two enigmatic men wait inside a bar ran by a mysterious woman, all waiting for the deadly killer that is known as “Yum Sang-gu”. Hang-jun plays with tension well in “Everyone is Waiting..”, keeping the camera focused with closeups and quick cuts as each patron sizes up the other, trying to figure out who is the infamous killer or when he will arrive. The chamber story builds up to a great twist, delivering a shocking and violent climax but loses some steam with a confounding epilogue.

The last story “Silent Cinema” (directed by Lee Myung-Se) is the most unique and polarizing of all stories. Even to summarize this story would be to give away its zany-but-earned uniqueness. In a film noir-inspired dimension (or universe?) of sorts, two killers wait inside a diner for a faceless victim, who shows up at the diner every day at 6’o clock. The rules within the world of “Silent Cinema” are strange enough – because all rules defy logic. There’s a hole in the bar (an upside-down prism of sorts) where one is able to tell night from day, there are characters with strange names such as “Smile”, and time itself seems to be a tangible thing. Shot in mostly Black and White, there are echoes of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 Sci-Fi film noir “Alphaville”. There are freeze-frames, exposition through narration, strange fighting and inspired, odd transitions – Godard would be proud of this one.

Closing Thoughts
Kicking off my “Fantasia” circuit with this selection is a great starting point. Even though the execution could be better across the board, as an overall film, “The Killers” fits as a solid genre entry in Fantasia’s diverse lineup. There’s promise within these stories and I am intrigued to see more from the four filmmakers who crafted this feature. For a film that includes vampires, universes that defy logic, dark humor and tense chamber stories, “The Killers” is a film that proves why cinema is an imperfect medium where anything could work if you have the right team with enough gumption to throw it all at the wall and try to make it stick.

Trailer