A Kind of Murder (2016)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Absolutely Fantastic

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

What happened to Kimmel's eye? Seriously. Towards the end of the movie, in one seen his eyes are fine, the next scene, he has a shiner. What happened?Tony. He hears, and can pretty much ascertain, Kimmel being assaulted by that annoying investigator, yet the next scene, Tony has turned his back on Kimmel, who was in fact, the victim. Why? That made no sense, at all, whatsoever.There is a chunk missing in this movie, and sadly, that is to its detriment.This investigator. He had nothing this entire movie. He just speculated, harassed, invaded and kept losing his temper all movie long. All he had was these 2 idiots - Kimmel and Stackhouse. Those two are such fools, that an investigator wasn't even necessary for them to get caught.Speaking of getting caught; uhm, so, Mrs Stackhouse? Given the title of the movie, Walter's flashback, and Clara's demeanour, I'll have to ASSUME, that she committed suicide. Although, there is another angle they could've taken, especially given their emphasis on what Walter said to Ellie... An infuriating angle if done wrong, because it almost makes watching the entire movie USELESS, but at least would explain why Walter is an Architect rather. And I thought "Cell" had an inept ending.Then, there's the fact that, literally from the very begi... You know, let me not ruin for others, what really can't be ruined anyway. 3.4/10.

Best movie I seen in years. The bad reviews? It's simply not for attention-deficient, thrill junkies who play video games all day. This film builds tension slowly and believably in the Hitchcockian tradition (which makes sense since it is a script from the one of Hitchcock's favorite script writers, Patricia Highsmith). It is beautifully filmed, with rich sets and fabulous, era-perfect costumes and props. The performances are all flawless. It's a great script full of psychological tension that builds to a dramatic and poetic ending. Film buffs will love this movie.

I must admit I'm still not absolutely sure what happened in the end and I watched it twice. "A Kind of Murder" is a quirky little story; a bit like an episode on the old "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".Patrick Wilson plays Walter Stackhouse, an architect and amateur writer who is becoming disenchanted with his neurotic wife, Clara (Jessica Biel). He becomes fixated on the case of Marty Kimmel (Eddie Marsan), a man who may have murdered his wife. When Walter's wife turns up dead, an apparent suicide, a detective, Lawrence Corby (Vincent Kartheiser), suspects it may be a copycat killing and pursues both men with the single-mindedness of Peter Falk's Columbo, but with none of his affability. Finally we seem to be left not really knowing if Walter did it or is simply guilty of an overactive imagination? Patricia Highsmith's novels are tough ones to bring to life on the screen; they never end up as profound as you think they will. The films usually start with a clever idea, but run out of puff by the final curtain - The "Ripley" films and "The Two Faces of January" come to mind.Good looking Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel play against type creating unexpected characters, and this combined with Eddie Marsan's strange little bookshop owner and Vincent Kartheiser's unpleasant detective give the movie an odd edge; it's a hard one to love.The film has a subtle score with a seductive lilt by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, the go-to composers for the slightly off kilter ("Enemy" and "The Gift"). Credit also for the early 1960's setting. From the clothes, the cars and the interiors to scenes at bus terminals and train stations, it captures the look of the period and, if you were around at the time, brings back memories. It also gives the film a point of difference, especially as a film such as this has to compete with dozens of high quality, film length dramas and mini series that pour in through TV, cable and satellite.However, it remains to be seen if "A Kind of Murder" with its fairly contrived scenario and rather annoying ending will stay in the memory.

I rated it 6 from 10 stars as it was not as bad as the previous reviewers made it look like. But obviously I'm the only one in this reviewer group who watched the original Blunderer movie from France called "Le meurtrier" aka "Enough Rope" (1963) and THAT was a 10 star movie IMHO. It's such a shame that Criterion still has not released it in the US.Being very familiar with "Le meurtrier" and with Patricia Highsmith' novel "The Blunderer", I could compare and recognize scene after scene and can tell that this is a very close remake to the old French film. Then we watched the bonus material and actually kept waiting for the movie director or the stars to mention the older French version, but nobody did (?).Anyway, it's not a bad remake, because it keeps very close to the novel plot and to the French original movie. I just wish somebody who was interviewed for the bonus material would have mentioned/honored "Le meurtrier" in which Gert "Goldfinger" Froebe plays the book seller Kimmel, Maurice Ronet is Walter, beautiful Russian-French actress Marina Vlady impersonates Ellie, a musician (not a singer) and Yvonne Furneaux is Clara, Walter's Wife. Robert Hossein plays the detective.Spoiler: Instead of going to a jazz bar, Maurice Ronet goes to a music festival in the last scene. The original was mise en scene by Claude Autant-Lara in Nice at the Côte d'azur/French Riviera. The remake was filmed in New York City, also taking place in early 1960 with very beautiful colors. The cinematographer alone deserves 6 stars for this remake, but I also think that the actors were quite good. Check this out: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057303/?ref_=nv_sr_3