One of our favorite directors Marjane Satrapi is back with a new film and quite unlike Persepolis, the autobiographical animated film about an Iranian girl coming of age. The Voices is a twisted dark comedy about a psychotic killer set in a dreary Midwestern town, starring Ryan Reynolds. Now, that threw us off. Not only is this Satrapi’s first attempt at adapting someone else’s script, we also never really pegged her for a full-on gore-type director. Plus, clean-cut-megawatt grin Reynolds as deranged killer?
Before you start imagining Saw-type blood bath, no it’s nothing like that. In fact, this film is whimsical and unapologetically out-of-its-mind, just like the movie’s lead character. Reynolds plays Jerry Hickfant, a seemingly normal (albeit awkward but likeable) factory worker who’s actually schizophrenic and has a crush on the company’s sexy accountant Fiona (Gemma Arterton)—who he ends up killing and dissecting. Oh and he spends his free time talking to his pet dog and cat.
The first scene sets the tone for the film. It starts off slightly off-kilter but manages to make the small town of Milton look picture-perfect with its vivid pops of colors and clever close-ups and slow-mos. What’s great about this film is that it sounds like it’s going to be a dark, gory film but it does just the opposite. Satrapi manages to create a fast-paced film with just the right amount of humor injected (of course, mental illness is no joke) throughout while still keeping its serious tone. And it’s also the film where pretty-boy Reynolds show us that he can actually act and that there’s more that he can do with his boy-ish smile.
The Voices opens in cinemas on Feb 5 and stars Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendricks and Jacki Weaver.
