![]() Read is broken, but not so much that he can’t feel. He’s dismayed when his junkie-prostitute girlfriend crosses the one boundary they let define their relationship. He’s hurt when his father won’t acknowledge him. And now that he’s in the “real world” (or underworld) we further understand that, for all of Read’s menace and psychopathic follow-through, he’s a surprisingly sensitive guy. The expected conclusion of this moment is further subverted in the form of a court hearing where Loughlin capably defends himself, all of the intimate remorse of his betrayal stripped away in favor of a gloating, preening defense built on a lie.Įven when Read is released from prison, a change that not only opens up the film’s color palette but sees Bana gaining a significant amount of weight (enabled by a month-long break in shooting), the film never falters in viewing the world through his lens, as expanded and filthy as it may comparatively be. And he knows that, if he lives, he will be forced to take revenge. They are not punctuated by Read debasing himself of the tenets that prop up his concept of honor among thieves. They are punctuated by regret and fear on behalf of Loughlin and disappointment and curiosity on behalf of Read. These stabs into Read’s gut don’t come quickly. It’s worth mentioning here that Loughnan is the entire reason Read is in prison in the first place since Read was pinched for kidnapping a judge in an effort to extort Loughnan’s release (though one senses Read would have found his way in jail at some point regardless). ![]() The second moment comes when Read himself is repeatedly stabbed in the stomach by Jimmy Loughnan (played by Simon Lyndon). Here, Read legitimately wants to offer his victim some comfort, and a cigarette is the only instrument of kindness he has on him. It would be an effort to establish and brand the director responsible as cool and hip. Sure, a lot of those films would have Read offering up a cigarette as well, but it would mean something totally different. This is the difference between Dominik’s Chopper and any number of crime films released after 1994. As the inmate bleeds out Read tries to explain that he probably won’t lose enough blood to die and tentatively re-approaches him, sticking to the walls and corners of the holding cell in a manner as submissive as possible. Read immediately pulls away and is palpably upset by what he’s done. The act itself is as quick and shocking as the multitude of prison stabbings you’ve no doubt seen onscreen, but the aftermath is unlike any of them. The first of these occurs when Read, almost reluctantly, shanks a fellow inmate in the face and neck in an effort to retain his standing in the division. Where most films would immediately go out of their way to illustrate the brutality of such a place with a series of cuts to various acts of shocking depravity, Dominik wisely applies that brutality to three uncomfortably intimate moments that define the film’s identity. The film opens with Read ( Eric Bana in his breakout role) serving a 16-year sentence in the H division of Australia’s Pentridge prison. In particular, there are three moments in the film’s first half that define it as a singular work, and those are what I’ll primarily be focusing on in this piece. Dominik is so true to his reading of Read’s life that the film reads as an extension of his personality, not a genre checklist. The film is one hundred percent the result of an authentic interest in its subject. It doesn't achieve its alchemy by laying a grouping of desired ingredients out on the table and willing them to collide. But most of them have failed, in large measure because of their self-consciousness. A lot of crime films, especially after Pulp Fiction, have aspired to meld tones like this. Based on From The Inside, the autobiography of Mark Brandon Read (aka “Chopper”), the film achieves something quite rare in that it manages to be unflinchingly brutal, warm, and funny in equal measure. As promised in last week’s introduction to this brief series of articles, today I take a look at director Andrew Dominik’s debut film Chopper, which was released in 2000.
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