"A struggling writer in the midst of a divorce befriends a retired serial killer who incidentally becomes his marriage counselor by day, and killing counselor for his next book by night." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

At a time where attention spans are shrinking, and in an industry that treasures short, snappy one-word titles, it takes a lot of guts to name your film The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer. But what makes this title especially clever isn’t its length. It’s director Tolga Karaçelik’s even gutsier attempt to trick the audience into thinking they know what they are getting themselves into. While the film they are about to watch does feature a writer and a serial killer, what happens when the two cross paths is the furthest thing from shallow.

Karaçelik’s trolling is evident immediately as the film begins in a black and white Slovenia - 40,000 years before Christ. As one female homo sapien stumbles upon a male neanderthal in a cave trying to start a fire, Steve Buscemi’s soothing voice utters the words, “You’re going to die.” Not too long after, the film cuts to the actor, in-character, delivering an ominous monologue to a man tied up in a chair. As he continues to talk, the audience is shown a series of equally ominous imagery. Just as it appears that all hope is lost for the man sitting in the chair, the film’s title flashes on screen and we’re transported to a dinner party several days prior. 

At the party, we meet the man who we just saw tied up in a chair. His name is Keane. Within seconds we know he’s our titular writer because of how passionate he appears describing his next book (an oddly familiar story about a homo sapien and a neanderthal whose lives intertwine in prehistoric Slovenia…).  But not even his wife, Suzie, shares his passion, as she watches with clear disdain from across the table. That night, she tries to tell him how foolish his new book idea sounds. Bullheaded about bringing his idea to life, he shrugs her off. But that confidence is further chipped away the next morning when he meets with his publisher, who also tells him he needs to write something “sexier”. Just when it seems like he’s back at square one, a chance encounter with a mysterious gentleman changes everything. That gentleman, played by the aforementioned Buscemi, is named Kollmick. He’s the titular serial killer. 

This is no secret, as he tells Keane very early on about his previous occupation (he refers to himself as retired). Having never been caught, he seeks notoriety. So he persuades Keane to make him the subject of Keane’s next book. Keane is initially reluctant for obvious reasons, but when Kollmick offers to show him his methods he changes his mind. After all, he thinks he has nothing to lose. That is until a series of hilarious misunderstandings threaten his life, career and what’s left of his marriage.

Karaçelik’s direction is admirable, but so is his misdirection. His ability to set up so many funny moments in scenes that are supposed to go smoothly is both admirable - and easily the most enjoyable aspect of the film. One of the most noteworthy mistakes in the film is when Kollmick and Suzie meet for the first time. Rather than introducing Kollmick as a consultant for his next book, Keane mistakenly calls him his “counselor.” By this point in the film, Suzie has made it clear to Keane that she is considering divorcing him. But in that moment, she’s convinced that he wants to try and make things work so badly that she mistakes Kollmick for a marriage counselor. While this could easily be squared away with a simple correction, Keane just goes with the flow. And he only ends up digging a deeper hole for himself because from that point on he has to continue to make up lies to keep Kollmick’s past and their deal a secret. 

Having built a career on mostly comedic roles, Kollmick might be one of Buscemi’s funniest roles to date. But not because he’s delivering funny one-liners. Rather because of the restraint he shows as things continuously go wrong. Believe it or not, it’s actually John Magaro as Keane that delivers most of the film’s physical comedy. After building quite a career on quieter, more reserved performances, here he proves he’s got unrelenting range. In fact, there’s an entire sequence where his character accidentally knocks someone out with chloroform. It’s not so much how he does it than it is the way he does it accidentally using a surprising part of his body. 

While both Magaro and Buscemi are fun to watch, it’s Britt Lower who delivers the film’s most entrancing performance as Suzie. Suzie is a particularly interesting character because she is constantly telling other characters in the film what she wants, but her actions always contradict her .The biggest example being her marriage to Keane. From the beginning we know she can’t stand him, yet she cares enough to conduct her own investigation into him and Kollmick’s adventures. Although her very deliberate monotone voice makes it even harder to determine Suzie’s motivations, by the end it becomes clear that she just wants to feel alive.

Despite such compelling performances and a comedic premise, the film does have its flaws. The primary one being its abrupt ending. That’s not to say the film doesn’t end in a satisfying way, but with such little time between the climax and the final shot, the audience isn’t given enough to truly process the film. It’s an odd choice considering that the rest of the film’s pacing is courteous. Additionally, Buscemi’s Kollmick is built to be such an integral character to the story yet his arc is left unresolved. By the end, there are some major implications about his own motivations, but once again the audience is not given any time to come to think about it. 

The film’s greatest irony is that it’s in such a rush to bring the audience back to the surface, yet it burrows you so deep into this story that you can’t help but wonder how much further it will go.  And it’s in our best interest that we don’t continue to explore. The Shallow Tale has so much to say about the boxes we confine ourselves to in life - our professions, our relationships, even our ideas - but it also shows us that only when we stop burrowing ourselves can we start to see the beauty in the monotony.

​

The film is currently screening as a part of the 2024 Tribeca Festival, so be sure to look out for a wider release soon!