The Iceman: Venice Review

[Valin]

Hollywood Reporter

David Rooney

8/30/12

 

VENICE -- A densely plotted account of the life and crimes of Richard Kuklinski, who murdered more than 100 people before he was apprehended in 1986, The Iceman is a vivid evocation of a remorseless sociopath sustaining a double life as a contract killer and devoted family man. Gritty, gripping and unrelentingly intense, Ariel Vromen’s film boasts richly detailed character work from an ideal cast. But the driving force is Michael Shannon in the title role, showing yet again that he can explore the darkness within like few actors working today.

 

The screenplay, by Morgan Land and Vromen, was based on a fictionalized book by Anthony Bruno and on James Thebaut’s 1992 HBO documentary, The Iceman Tapes: Conversations With a Killer. That source is reflected in a framing device in which the aged, bearded Kuklinski responds to questions in prison, with Shannon looking like a fine-grained Rembrandt drawing in the half-light.

 

 

The duality of Polish-American Richie’s existence is illustrated right off the bat during his first date, in Jersey City in 1964, with his future wife, virtuous Catholic girl Deborah Pellicotti (Winona Ryder). She coaxes Richie through his conversational reticence to declare shyly, “You’re a prettier version of Natalie Wood.” The sweetness of that scene invests us instantly in the film’s central relationship. A barroom interlude follows in which a pool player aggravates Richie, who calmly slits his throat in the back alley afterward, suggesting this is far from the first time he has killed.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Warning Very Disturbing