Ok, let's just get these things out of the way:
- this is not satire
- the score fits the relevant scenes and builds on the merit of superheroe scores because that is what Lou believes he is: the hero. People calling it shit are suspect of not having watched the damn thing, imo.
- he is not a weirdo, he is a psychopath. Yes, they actually reason that way. And no, Patrick Bateman is severely compromised, but ultimately not a complete psychopath. That is why the watch scene exist. Psychopaths cannot process emotions the way you do. There is no 'you' to go with their 'I'. 'You' are an object, something to be used and then disposed of. This is why they have to learn to do something as simple as repaying a smile with a smile, and they become very good at it too. But it never becomes innate. They can learn to mimic empathy, sympathy, charm (extremely well in fact), and these things, but they do not feel them, ever.
This has been, rather breakingly so, demonstrated by a researcher who tried 'curing' them. They just learned to fool people better into thinking they have any kind of empathy (from: The psychopath test by Jon Ronson). This is also what most people don't actually understand. This is why you believe this is 'satire', when it isn't. American Psycho is, but this isn't.
Listen to the language. How everything Lou says is something he learned from management and spirituality courses because people think those are morally good, even if they are not (they are actually just bullshit, all of them. Even Covey? YES, ALL OF THEM). He doesn't believe a word of it, he just knows that other people, you know: those 'things' that aren't him, respond well to them. Psychopath are usually also pathological liars and manipulators, doing only one thing: to check as the boxes you need to do what they want. A moral person who can see through that however, will simply not budge. This is what the scrapyard scene is for. But this kind of person is kind of rare, and rarely in the right position to make the call. That's the fucking movie, right there.
Also notice how his partner, the 'you' guy, who is morally sane tries to uphold that standard as if they share it. "I'm saying this for you". A good display of cognitive dissonance at work.
I suspect my reading list has a few things in common with Gilroy's, and therefore I really liked this movie. I can't speak for 'no country for old men' since I haven't watched it yet (I think it probably ignores the charm part and goes with the usual murderous creep fare, which is kind of cowardly way to avoid writing about reality in all its awfulness), but Gyllenhaal's performance here comes really close to 'the real deal'. Wonder how many they had to interview or study to get to that point.
Excellent script, and well shot. Love it.
edit: I forgot to mention that I see a lot of 'culture of fear', which is a sociology book on how the news has shifted on to stories that create fear, rather than their negation, which is what the real story is. An arrested robber is a real story. Another case of X running wild' becomes the story. Like I said: reading list.
that gunshot is the first one of those to legitimately make me jump in a LONG time.
Startled the FUCK out of me.
oh right, this is the difference between real violence and Hollywood / televised violence: telegraphing. In this movie, you know it's coming, but it's not telegraphed when by close-ups and other institutional party tricks to soften the blow.
