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Canberra Today 14°/18° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review: ‘The Counselor’ (MA) *** and a half

the counselorRIDLEY Scott’s name on a film has always been a foreboding of tensions skilfully crafted and staged. Who, having watched his second feature “Alien”, can forget the creature emerging from Ripley’s belly?

Novels by Cormac McCarthy have been made into films notable for cracking good dramatic power – “The Road”, “No Country for Old Men”.

“The Counselor” combines the talents of these two craftsmen in a story of sublime human wickedness that is a challenge to unravel. A sullage tanker leaves Mexico en route to Chicago. What better concealment for a steel drum holding a large consignment of cocaine?

Stylish hedonist Reiner (Javier Bardem) has invited the counsellor (Michael Fassbinder) to buy a share. The counsellor (he has no name) having seen Reiner indulging Malkina (Cameron Diaz), whose tastes and desires know no limits, wants the transaction to fund marriage to high-maintenance Laura (Penelope Cruz). Malkina is a woman to whom any man might aspire at some peril. Laura, highly desirable, is a less-risky relationship prospect.

The counsellor engages Westray (Brad Pitt) to provide financial management guidance. The film follows the tanker north, leaving a trail of corpses in its wake. Most are minor functionaries, cannon fodder appearing briefly and dying imaginatively. Only one of the principal characters will survive to the closing credits. And not a cop in sight throughout.

Powerfully staged, acted with panache, with dramatic complexity and credibility that respect our intelligence, the film delivers serious satisfactions.

At all cinemas

 

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Dougal Macdonald

Dougal Macdonald

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