Bloody business

The mobster crime flick "Killing Them Softly" breaks people's faces, but not new ground

By Christy Lemire
Associated Press

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 30, 2012

~~<p>Writer-director Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" is an incredibly stylish genre exercise set in the world of mobsters, junkies and lowlifes, but it's also trying incredibly hard to be About Something.</p>
<p>Not content merely to be profane, abrasive and occasionally darkly amusing, it also wants to be relevant. And so Dominik has taken the 1974 crime novel "Cogan's Trade" by George V. Higgins and set it in the days before the 2008 presidential election, just as the U.S. economy is in the midst of catastrophic collapse. Every television and radio is tuned to then-candidate Barack Obama or President George W. Bush addressing the nation — even in bars and thugs' cars — with the volume cranked way up, commenting all-too obviously on the film's action.</p>
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<td><strong>‘KILLING THEM SOFTLY’</strong><br />
<strong>Rated:</strong> R<br />
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<em>Opens today</em></td>
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Writer-director Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" is an incredibly stylish genre exercise set in the world of mobsters, junkies and lowlifes, but it's also trying incredibly hard to be About Something.

Not content merely to be profane, abrasive and occasionally darkly amusing, it also wants to be relevant. And so Dominik has taken the 1974 crime novel "Cogan's Trade" by George V. Higgins and set it in the days before the 2008 presidential election, just as the U.S. economy is in the midst of catastrophic collapse. Every television and radio is tuned to then-candidate Barack Obama or President George W. Bush addressing the nation — even in bars and thugs' cars — with the volume cranked way up, commenting all-too obviously on the film's action. ‘KILLING THEM SOFTLY’ Rated: R Opens today Login for more...