So I made this poster for the recent Birds Eye View Film festival competition celebrating women in film. Which, I don't know, might have been a dumb idea because American Psycho doesn't really seem to scream "women in film" at you as a movie, unless it's screaming "WOMEN IN FILM WITH CHAINSAWS STUCK IN THEM!"
Except, Mary Harron did an amazing job at taking source material that many would call misogynistic and hateful, and made a film that many would call misogynistic and hateful, but considerably less so...
She turned Patrick Bateman into a tragic clown freewheeling through a
decadent well-tailored circus. He is of his time, but apart from it and his
final voiceover creates an element of monstrous pathos that
simultaneously humanises and distances him.
She disregarded much of the book which, in retrospect, was the only sane and possible thing to do. I really love the novel, but I don't think I want to watch the rat scene on a screen. I don't think I want to see that.
So, Mary Harron made a brilliant film against all odds. She made a brilliant, funny, scary, stylish, sad film that stands separately from its source material and just gets better and better as the years add up. So that's why I picked it. Unfortunately, looking through some of the other entries, it seems like a lot of other people had similar thoughts, because pretty much everyone else who entered picked it from the shortlist too. So it's highly unlikely that I'll be one of the ten winners. But, you know, my skin is thick - like a calloused rhino. So I don't care about that.
She disregarded much of the book which, in retrospect, was the only sane and possible thing to do. I really love the novel, but I don't think I want to watch the rat scene on a screen. I don't think I want to see that.
So, Mary Harron made a brilliant film against all odds. She made a brilliant, funny, scary, stylish, sad film that stands separately from its source material and just gets better and better as the years add up. So that's why I picked it. Unfortunately, looking through some of the other entries, it seems like a lot of other people had similar thoughts, because pretty much everyone else who entered picked it from the shortlist too. So it's highly unlikely that I'll be one of the ten winners. But, you know, my skin is thick - like a calloused rhino. So I don't care about that.
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