The FILM IN WORDS Netflix Film of the Week: helping you navigate the filmic minefield of the nation’s favourite video streaming service.
Words: Brody Rossiter
Twitter: @BrodyRossiter
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Despite making a career of embodying tortured and ostracised individuals who dwell up the peripheries of society, The Iceman is perhaps Michael Shannon’s most impactful and authentic role to date. Documenting the exploits of notorious hitman and dedicated family man, Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski, this true life tale is a potent picture packed with attitude and suspense.
Boasting a robust supporting cast featuring Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, Chris Evans, and a rare filmic outing for David Schwimmer, The Iceman‘s aggressive melding of unflinching subject matter drawn from actual brutal events, and a collection of impassioned performances – especially that of a terrifyingly cold and calculated Shannon – results in an unyielding film that harkens back to some the finest examples of mob flick cinema.
An intricately realised series of era jumping settings, which not only summon the styles and attitudes of their respective decades but immediately immerse the viewer in Kuklinski’s life at both home and the “office”, immediately highlight a great deal of ambition and care on the part of Israeli director Ariel Vromen and his crew.
Spitting expletives, taking a meat clever to lifeless bodies, slowly screwing on a silencer beneath the cover of a sandy trench coat, and most importantly, faithfully relaying the shocking details of a truly unbelievable tale of one man’s life as both assassin and father, The Iceman is a classical depiction of what happens when the American dream goes bad – really, really bad.
FILM IN WORDS 