Killer Joe

The best films of director William Friedkin are his most visceral: The French Connection, Sorcerer and of course, his legendary The Exorcist. The latest is Killer Joe, his second adaptation of a Tracey Letts play after 2006's Bug, and it's his best since 1985's underrated To Live & Die In LA. 'Based on a play' is the only note of respectability – and a very vague one, at that – in what's otherwise a proudly offensive, gleefully amoral abyss of a film.

A never-better Matthew McConaughey (on a sudden winning streak in the last 12 months, with additional scene-stealing roles in Bernie and Magic Mike) stars in the title role, as a cop with 'a little business on the side', as per Chris (Emile Hirsch). The latter's a no-hoper up to his neck in debt, who together with his dad (Thomas Haden Church), stepmother (Gina Gershon) and sister (Juno Temple) conspire to murder the matriarch of the family to claim life her $50,000 in life insurance – hiring the cold-blooded Joe to do their dirty work. Needless to say, plans go awry in true film-noir spirit, to wincingly funny, and often plain wincing effect. The film's climactic scenes, indeed, have earned the film the commercial kiss-of-death NC-17 rating in the US. It would be easy to dismiss the film as mere button-pushing nastiness if everyone involved weren't so committed to bringing this vision of America's black heart to vivid life; Gershon, in particular deserves an Academy Award for bravery alone. Dark comedies don't come much darker than this, and for a filmmaker nearing 80 years old, it's a delight that Friedkin's lost none of his desire to shake up jaded sensibilities.