A person doing anything and everything to stay at the top of his field; does this seem all too familiar?
Who:
Director: Owen Harris
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, James Corden, Ed Skrein, Craig Roberts
What:
Comedy/Thriller
Why:
Adaptation of the book "Kill Your Friends"
When:
Released 2015
Where:
England during the 90's
Kill Your Friends takes place at the height of Cool Britannia that swept the United Kingdom in the mid 90's. It follows the actions of a hedonistic record company A&R man named Steven Stelfox played by Nicholas Hoult; who is vying to become the top A&R rep for his firm.
To achieve this goal he will take any means necessary to get there; including blackmail and murder. Along the way we get to see the entire drunken, drug fuelled debauchery that goes hand in hand with the Rock & Roll lifestyle Stelfox leads. Amidst these shenanigans he is trying to sign the next big act to hit the airwaves. No one will be allowed to get in his way.
That little succinct synopsis is pretty much the premise in a nutshell. Stelfox is a smooth talking bullshit artist out to impress his prospective clientele as well as his fellow co-workers. Everything about him is style; whether that's the clothes he wears, the venues he frequents or the home he inhabits.
It is all an act to cover for his total lack of real credibility in this cut throat industry where everyone is looking for the next musical act they can use and abuse before moving onto the next best thing. The other members of staff at the record label who have the same role are just as shallow and unlikeable. It is a telling comment on the industry that the only person who is able to actually identify a talented act is the put upon, generally ignored secretary.
The films script drips with satire as it pokes fun at the music industry and the cash grabbing record labels who manipulate the talent of the artists attached to them for massive financial gain. The musicians themselves also come into the firing line as we are presented with some typical stereotypes such as a talentless girl band and gangsta rappers. Some of these interpretations are quite hilarious, especially the scene where Stelfox is invited to listen/endure the new song from one of the electronic artists he has signed to his label.
Most of these comic moments are staged quite well. Along with the quick pace that the movie rolls with, makes it flow along nicely. There is a lot of breaking of the fourth wall, coupled with some narration from Stelfox to help propel the story forward. I felt this choice worked well alongside the musical selections and this style helped compliment both in terms of direction. There are faults with the narration too but we will come to that.
The soundtrack is amazing. For anyone who was a fan of the music scene at the time of Britpop then this is basically a who's who of that era. Without these songs the film definitely would have struggled to keep my interest and was a massive influence on my enjoyment overall.
The acting in general is alright. A lot of the responsibility rests on the shoulders of Hoult's performance as he is central to the whole story and he does an admirable job. This is yet another different role for Hoult to take on, in what is becoming quite a varied career to date. He is definitely displaying a fair range and I will be only too happy to follow his future appearances with interest.
Amongst the supporting cast James Corden does particularly well as Roger; a rival of Stelfox and a chronic drug user. Corden doesn't have to rely on his comic abilities here and instead relies more on his actions and appearance to carry his performance. I also enjoyed seeing Craig Roberts who portrays Darren the office lackey and dogsbody for Stelfox. He has the perfect look to play someone who gets walked all over by the more overbearing, egotistical members of staff.
As a black comedy with some satirical comments about the era; the industry and the people that inhabit this realm; the film does an adequate job of keeping the viewer entertained. Combine this with the selection of songs littered throughout and there are much worse films you could be watching.
While I have been espousing how good the soundtrack is; at times it does feel like it is padding out the film to feature length. Something I find really distracting is when a film has to rely on a musical interlude or montage to extend the running time and I certainly got that impression here.
Hoult plays his role well but the actual character of Stelfox is such a despicable human being. If your protagonist is a power hungry person who will resort to murder to get what he wants then generally he needs to have some redeeming features that are relatable. In the case of Stelfox he oozes charm but the reality is he is a drug abusing sociopath who does very little that makes you want to root for him.
John Niven is responsible for adapting his novel into this screenplay. Having not read the book I can only assume that it is a reasonably faithful adaptation. Some of the material comes from experience as Niven did work in A&R for a record label.
The main issue with the film is that it is all too familiar if you have read or seen American Psycho. I would assume that Niven's novel invokes the same feelings of familiarity when compared to Bret Easton Ellis' work.
There are so many American Psycho comparisons that leapt off the screen I was wondering if I was viewing a remake set in the next decade and using a different vocation for the insatiable, murderous lead character.
Both are staged in a particular environment at a set time in history with a topical event that was happening in that period playing out as the main theme: Wall Street bankers in the 80's and Britpop breaking out in the 90's.
We have the narration by Stelfox mirroring Patrick Bateman's musings. This is a first person perspective so it is understandable in a way; however there is an over reliance on this trope to propel the story along and provide exposition. Using a narrator sometimes is an easy way out of trying to come up with a way of staging a scene and that seems to be the case here.
There are also scenes of Stelfox playing out a scenario in his head that at first appear to be actually occurring but are then shown as the thoughts of his twisted mind. It begs the question of whether the true atrocities are happening or is it all in the mind of Stelfox; something that is a running theme for Patrick Bateman throughout American Psycho.
Stelfox has a sweet secretary who wants to please her boss; much like Bateman's lovelorn secretary Jean. In the case of Rebecca though she does have more of a story arc and an interesting twist to her character that I will admit did take me by surprise.
The stories of both films revolve around a person in a privileged position committing terrible crimes and getting away with it. Neither man seems to do any actual work in their respective jobs either. The people they work with are oblivious to what is going on as they themselves are too wrapped up in their own agendas of attaining more power and notoriety. Both men have co-workers who they consider as rivals and proceed to murder or attempt too.
The music plays such an important role for Kill Your Friends which is no surprise with our leading man working in the music industry. Music played an equally important role in the life of Patrick Bateman too and he displays his appreciation of this art form in the most gruesome fashion. The music industry itself is played out as a rather gruesome, cut throat world and Stelfox is shown to be one of the worst participants of the kill or be killed nature of showbiz - quite literally.
Bateman had a private investigator on his tail, sniffing around asking questions about a missing person and hinting they suspected Bateman knew more than he was letting on. Stelfox is in a similar predicament when a detective questions him regarding the disappearance of Roger Waters. In much the same way you are left thinking this detective suspects more than he is letting on. Kill Your Friends does cleverly use this thread to play out a scene involving sex and murder well; while American Psycho also had Bateman play out his own sex/murder fantasy.
Finally the ending did feel a little bit too predictable. Was this because I was expecting it to go a certain way because it felt so similar to American Psycho? I don't really know; but I did know how it would end probably fifteen minutes after it started which did dampen my overall enthusiasm.
So while none of this is portrayed in a particularly poor way as far as Kill Your Friends goes; it is the fact that it so closely mirrors those in American Psycho that grates on my nerves. This is not as much of an original concept as first impressions would have you believe. Coincidentally both books took nearly the same length of time to be adapted for the big screen: seven years in the case of Kill Your Friends and nine for American Psycho.
Did StudioCanal get the rights to this novel and sit on it till they thought a suitable length of time had passed before opting to go into production? Cynical old me thinks this film has seen the light of day with the aim of enticing a generation of viewers who will think the retro feel of the 90's music scene involving sex, drugs and murder is cool entertainment.
I am sure StudioCanal would have thought there is enough of an original idea in the script that people wouldn't make the comparisons. They would have been hoping most of the target audience would be oblivious to the fact this story has been done before in a different setting and in a much better way.
Verdict:
Plagiarism is an offence that can get you a conviction. I am willing to reduce the sentence however to writing out lines of "I shall not copy the work of better writers and claim it as my own" 1000 times. I'll admit it; the killer soundtrack helped the defence out considerably.
Evidence:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Your_Friends_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2474958/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Your_Friends
