Yes I’m ashamed to admit that I let last week slip by without a W.O.F. F.O.W. but thankfully we’re back again this week with a real killer…
Killer of Sheep | Dir. Charles Burnett | 1977
I defy people not be seduced by such a straight and impacting title. Its a film which has been on my ‘to do’ list since I caught a clip during the press launch of the London Film Festival last year. Through my own inept knowledge I lived under the delusion between then and now that this was a classic film being re-released that had slipped below my radar. But I soon learnt this is the first time the film has been released in the UK, having been detangled over 30 years from an expensive copyright mess.
Made as Burnett’s final thesis at MFA with a meagre $10,000 budget, a predominantly amateur cast of friends and family and a loose handheld camera this is a film that feels touchingly realistic. Centring on Stan who works amidst the repetitive drudgery of a slaughterhouse, Killer of Sheep is a series of meandering doleful, gentle and occasionally very funny social interactions of the residents in Stan’s neighbourhood.
There are some fabulously surreal and abstract moments, from a young daughter drifting about her family home adorning a giant rubber dog mask (in hindsight a moment I’m unable to shake Daft Punk connotations from). To a lingering shot peering up between the gap of two buildings as a series of neighbourhood kids leap across from left to right like a zoetrope.
I’m always sceptical of reviews of ‘old’ films being re-released that seem heaped with unquestioned praise “well done film, you’ve stuck around this long, now we’re all obliged to like you- 5 Stars!” But firstly this isn’t a re-release and secondly there’s a reason why so many people have invested so much time and money to get this a theatrical release- and to summarise that’s because this is such an amazing film, and one unquestionably deserving of its critical fanfare.
The BFI Southbank will be following up their extended run of Killer of Sheep with a further season of films from Burnett screening in July. Visit the BFI website for further details.
London Venues
0 Responses to “Film of the Week: Killer of Sheep”