DESTROYER
US, 2018, 121 minutes, Colour.
Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbel, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Scoot Mc Nairy, Bradley Whitford.
Directed by Karyn Kusama.
This is the drama that had everybody talking, not about its plot, about its star, Nicole Kidman. This is the film in which she is scarcely recognisable, a disturbed woman, beyond the verge.
The title obviously refers to her character, Erin Bell, a veteran of the LA police force. But it also can refer to a sinister criminal, Silas (Toby Kebbel), a man of great malice.
Basically, this is a police drama, the story of a detective and investigation. However, much of the plot is seen in a number of flashbacks, moments in the present sparking memories of Erin and her past. And, it is a rather ugly past. In the present, she is looking older, haggard, affected by too much drinking, unsteady even as she walks. In some of the flashbacks, while she is not glamorous, she is more immediately recognisable as Nicole Kidman, enabling the audience to make the connections with the older Erin.
As the film opens, and she tries to open her bleary eyes as she sits in her car, there is a call to go to a crime scene. She examines the body lying near a stormwater channel, ominous tattoos on his neck, killed by three bullets. She recognises the body and proceed then to investigate the killing.
Probably best to warn intending viewers to pay a great deal of attention to the timeline of the film, rather difficult to do because of the number of flashbacks – even flashbacks within flashbacks leading to a twist at the end.
The main part of the flashbacks show Erin undercover, interviewing her fellow officer, Charlie (Sebastian Stan) who is in love with her. We see them at Silas’s place, rather sleazy group, Silas taunting others with Russian roulette. The main victim of this sadistic game is seen in other flashbacks, working in a church, tracked by Erin in her investigation, giving her information for Silas’s contact with a girlfriend, Petra. This leads to a fight, both women suffering wounds.
The main part of the action in the flashbacks concerns a bank robbery, Silas and his group, Erin driving a getaway car – and a sequence in which she discusses with Charlie the possibility of taking the money themselves. However, there is an unexpected thwarting of the escape, Silas shooting and killing.
The other complication in Erin’s life is her daughter. The daughter is now 16, avoiding school, mixing with an undesirable crowd, an older boyfriend. She resents her mother, not wanting to listen to her, relying on her stepfather with whom she lives. As Erin tries to do some kind of reparation, find some kind of redemption, she talks with her daughter, has plans her daughter having a better life.
And then, we are back at the beginning, seeing the murder through new eyes – and, speaking of eyes, there is a final focus on Erin, wanted, sitting in her car, pallid, and our gazing at her dying eyes.
If Nicole Kidman had not been the star of the film, audiences may have found it too grim and difficult to follow – but it does star Nicole Kidman, her different appearance and performance, making the experience more intriguing.
1. The title? With reference to Erin? To Silas?
2. The police detection film? A variation on the theme? The central character a failure, self-destroyer?
3. The American city, apartments, bars, clubs, police precincts, the exteriors and the canals, the countryside and the desert? The range of tones and styles in the musical score?
4. A grim film, the style of colour photography, reinforcing the grim? The perspective on Erin, her work, undercover, her different roles, becoming corrupt, deaths, her daughter, her drinking? Failure? Wanting to repair the situation and her life?
5. The screenplay, the focus on the present, Erin waking up in the car, stunned, her drinking, the call, the murder victim, the police, mocking her, the reprisal of this scene at the end? Flashbacks, flashbacks within flashbacks? The settings for the flashbacks and Erin’s memories?
6. Erin, in the present, her failure, her work, going to the authorities, the banknotes and the purple dye? Her decision to find Silas? The warnings? Her being a lone wolf and her work? The search, the contacts, finding Petra, the confrontation with her, the violent fight? Getting the information? Getting the note from Silas for the rendezvous?
7. The past, the relationship with Charlie, interviewing him for the undercover work, his willingness, the kiss so that he would recognise her if meeting her suddenly, the relationship between them, the birth of Shelby? The undercover work, with the group, the guns, the games, the sleazy atmosphere? The tattoo with dots on the neck? The plan for the robbery? The role of Silas, challenging people malicious play, Arturo and the Russian roulette?
8. Arturo, Erin tracking him down, the church, the information, his running, her catching up, getting the leads?
9. The robbery, the bright sunlight, the bank, Erin in the getaway car, the robbery itself, Silas and the exploding dye, his anger, returning to kill the cashier, Charlie going in, his being shot? The girl shot? Erin, leaving, stashing the money, not touching it?
10. The discussions with Ethan, Shelby in his custody, her failing with Shelby? The talk about the money, using it for Shelby?
11. The meetings with Shelby, her not going to school, insolent, the boyfriend, defying her mother? The later meeting, Erin and the attempts for reconciliation? Shelby listening to her? Erin getting the boyfriend, the offer to pay him off?
12. Erin, sorting out the past, the note for the rendezvous with Silas – and the twist with her killing him?
13. Erin, finally in the car, the wounds from Petra, her eyes, death?
14. An out of the depths film, and entered the void film? And traces of redemption?
