Director: Martin McDonagh

Stars: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Parker Posey

Set in 1973 Chile, Martin McDonagh’s latest comedy drama sees the Irish writer-director once more depicting awful blokes doing awful things while bickering amusingly. John Malkovich is Chris, CIA agent and veteran of several of the organisation’s misadventures around the world. His partner is the younger Lee (Rockwell) who likes his older colleague but is increasingly concerned by his erratic behaviour. Chris’s health – physical and mental – is in serious decline meaning he is loosening further his already loose lips. When they arrive in Chile, Chris cheerfully alludes to two young leftist women and their plans to assassinate the new president Allende. On Chris’s wishes, the duo make their way to Easter Island to see the ‘giant heads’ while awaiting instructions. Meanwhile their boss MJ (Buscemi) is getting increasingly, dangerously, exasperated with Chris’s behaviour, especially the ageing agent’s professed plans to write a tell-all autobiography. The picture presents a memorably grainy rendering of 70s Chile while smuggling a stinging critique of U.S. overseas meddling. It does not quite achieve the desired pathos at the conclusion but is exceptionally well-played. Malkovich, whose performances often veer towards the overly actorly, is great here, leaving audiences wondering if the irascible Chris is finally forming some sort of conscience or just losing his faculties altogether, and Rockwell is an amusingly frustrated foil.

David Willoughby

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