"American Psycho" is, without a doubt, the greatest exploration of individuality and isolationism ever presented within the confines of a motion picture. By effectively twisting the narrative structure to feature a protagonist who also serves as the antagonist, "American Psycho" is a subversively rich black comedy with astonishing cinematic resonance.
Christian Bale (in a phenomenally layered performance) portrays Patrick Bateman, a 27 year-old Wall Street anomaly whose deepest desires are the centerpiece of an elaborate lifestyle in which only murder can set him apart from his peers. Like the clown who secretly cries on the inside, Bateman forever longs for a voice in a deaf world.
Although categorized critically as simply a social satire on perceived 80's materialism, "American Psycho" is a film of much more artistic breadth. Perhaps not since Alfred Hitchcock's original "Psycho" has a film so successfully explored the destructive nature of duality within the guise of self-centered human nature.
Patrick Bateman the protagonist exists in an upper-class realm of New York, attending glitzy dinners and business meetings. He prides himself on his clothes, his tan, his physique, his finance, his mistress, his apartment, and his detailed morning shower routine. Bateman is so indistinguishable from his friends and colleagues that he is oftentimes mistaken for them, or, worse, treated as the world's best groomed wallflower.
The most spectacular example of this happens at Christmas party wherein Bateman's fiancé scolds him for being late. Bateman offers a simple explanation: "I've been here the whole time. You just didn't see me." This moment is a key factor which will ultimately lead to his emotional and mental demise.
Patrick Bateman the antagonist strives for personal achievement on an entirely different level. When an associate trumps him with better dinner reservations, Bateman (with extreme prejudice) splits him open with an axe.This same Bateman ruthlessly kills a homeless man because of incompatibility, then turns his rage on the man's dog. The antagonistically defined Patrick Bateman finds a personal voice amidst the screams of others. That this latter side of Patrick Bateman exists only in the protagonist's jilted imagination is a masterstroke.
As described in Bret Easton Ellis's source novel, Bateman talks in great length about his penchant for fantasy: "I am so used to imagining everything the way it occurs in the movies, visualizing things falling somehow into the shape of events on the screen." This descriptive idea takes a literal incarnation in the film, where both sides of Bateman seemingly converge on one another with enough regularity to fool the character himself, Whether it's the Detective Movie, the Chainsaw Killer Movie, the Action Movie, or the Porno Movie, Patrick Bateman is a talented cerebral auteur of the highest caliber.
Director and co-writer Mary Harron populates the film with countless images which hint at Bateman's disturbing duality (the removal of a face mask being the most prominent), while cleverly showing the way Bateman thrives on imagination (appointment book doodles; crayon sketch.)
As "American Psycho" reaches its unsettling conclusion, the dual worlds of Patrick Bateman finally converge. Bateman comes to realize that he feels an inner pain that now must be inflicted on others, that he cannot be redeemed, and that there are no further barriers of insanity to cross.
Before the final fade-out Patrick Bateman stares directly at the voyeuristic audience, unblinkingly transferring his rage, As we stare into his eyes the final words of Bret Easton Ellis's novel echo silently like a final prayer: "This is not an exit."
--Yim Kip
The Official American Psycho Web Site
Download The Trailers
Get the Players
click below to purchase DVD
MEMBER OPINION WRITE AN OPINION
|
MONEY has a new meaning
by Mike
RATING: ****
Watching this movie is equivalent to Jesus flying down on a white chariot. I LOVED IT! Bateman is my hero.
|
Highly Recommended
|
American Psycho kicks ASS
by Lucas
RATING: ****
I loved it. I thought It was the best thing ever.
Christian Bale is a machine.
|
If you haven't seen this film,
YOUR WRONG!
|
Not My Kind of Movie
by Johnny
RATING: **1/2
Too dark. Too depressing. Too much. Too over-the-top. But, very darn clever.
|
Mediocre
|
WRITE YOUR OWN OPINION
Copyright © With All The Trimmings Newsstand Distribution
|
