SXSW - Assassinations everywhere

Chris Tilly sees several assassination attempts in 'He Was a Quiet Man' and '638 Ways to Kill Castro'

Mar 16 2007

Unsuccessful assassination attempts have been a theme of this year's SWSX film festival, with fiction and not-fiction films alike tackling the subject. On the fictional front, 'He Was a Quiet Man' kicks off with put-upon office worker Bob Maconel losing the plot and pulling out a gun with the intention of killing everyone who has ignored, bullied or harrassed him at his place of business. Fate intervenes however, and overnight Bob transforms from potential killer to local hero, a change that pushes him yet further over the edge with devastating consequences.

A black comedy come thriller, 'He Was a Quiet Man' is the directorial debut of 'Constantine' screenwriter Frank Cappello, and in spite of the fact that he had just 20 days to shoot the film, he's managed to hit one out of the park right off the bat. Visually arresting, structurally inventive and entirely unpredictable, the film plays like the bastard child of 'Fight Club', 'Brazil' and 'Amelie', and has the potential to be a genuine cult hit if it gets the international release it so obviously deserves.

Also, after years spent in the cinematic wilderness making tat like 'Alone in the Dark' and 'Churchill: The Hollywood Years', it marks a return to form for Christian Slater, who dons a wig and bad teeth to give a truly grandstanding performance as the increasingly unhinged Maconel.

On the non-fiction front, diverting documentary '638 Ways to Kill Castro' also screened at the festival, an enjoyably insane account of the various attempts to rid the world of the Cuban leader. A permanent thorn in the American side, the CIA, the mafia and various angry Cubans have spent the last 50 years trying to kill him, and their efforts beggar belief. Exploding cigars we know about, but a deadly diving suit? Poisoned milkshakes? Booby-trapped seashells? It sounds like the plot of some strange screwball comedy, but apparently they are all ways in which people have tried to bring down the beard since he first came to power in 1959. But he's still alive, and in spite of ailing health, this documentary makes you think there's a chance that he'll end up outliving us all.

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