Any adaptation as intensely psychotic as Jim Thompson’s seminal noir will have to bring a lot of artistry to the table to balance the built-in revulsion. Going by my own gut feelings, fans of the novel will perhaps have irrationally high expectations for Michael Winterbottom’s film to pummel us to a pulp. One thing’s for sure, I can’t think of another actor alive whose languid voice and slack body language is better suited to deliver deputy sheriff Lou Ford’s lobotomized flat affect as Casey Affleck.
UK and US posters after the cut.
