HEAD COUNT

US, 2023, 180 minutes, Colour.

Aaron Jakubenko, Ryan Kwanten, Kyle Dyke, Melanie Zanetti, Polaris Banks.

Directed by Jacob Burgardt, Ben Burgardt.

This is a first feature film of brothers, Jacob and Ben Burgardt. They have made a number of short films. Here they shall arise sense of humour, a number of viewers making a link with the films of the Coen brothers make Blood Simple and Fargo. Another American film worth viewing as a companion to Head Count is Greedy People.

The framework of the film is the central character, Kat, with the gun to his head, and his going back over his recent experiences to calculate how many bullets there are left in the gun. In the film goes back, first to his digging with the chain gang in prison, an attack by feral animals and his escape in the police car. There follow quite a number of episodes, always with the counting of the bullets, and many of them reminiscent, but with sudden and humorous twists – Kat in the wrong house and having to hide under the bed, a couple coming for an affair and the lover also hiding under the bed, an episode where Kat has to find money in an arms dealer’s house with the information that it is behind a picture of Jesus Christ – and the sudden turn of the camera to find so many pictures of Jesus on the wall…

There are flashbacks to Kat’s past, his relationship with Josephine, and then his further escape, meeting up with his sympathetic brother, with Josephine, encountering her current boyfriend.

A number of bloggers have not liked the film because they were taking it very seriously and finding it inconsistent – not realising the ironic and humorous tone.

1. The tone of the film, serious and realistic? Ironic and stylised? Serious? Comic?
2. The title, the reference to the gun, the bullets, Kat counting them, assessing his chances of survival?
3. The American setting, the prison fields in Kansas, on the road, service stations, homes, clubs, gun dealers? The narrative, the framework with the gun at Kat’s head, the flashbacks with Jo, the flashbacks with the gambling and the disposal of the body? The overall effect in 80 minutes?
4. The present situation, the chain gang, the gardens, attitudes, especially Sawyer, the animals approach, dragging away the prisoners, Sawyer shooting the chain, Kat running, driving away? A serious and comic prologue with the animal attack?
5. Kat, his age, finding out something of his background, relationship with Jo, her coming to the bar, his approach, his disappearance, prison? At the service station, affirmed by the rancher, taking his lunch? Going to the house, the comedy of the couple coming, his hiding under the bed, the husband arriving, the lover under the bed, his pulling the gun, the threats, escaping with the lover? The farcical enjoyment of this scene?
6. Going to the bar, the encounter with Jo, dancing, her boyfriend and his watching? Kat and his brother, his brother and the casino gigs, the bond between them, helping him, the clothes?
7. Sawyer in the bar, seeing him, the fight, Sawyer and his deal, Vince and the guns, the money behind the picture of Jesus, the sudden humour of so many pictures on the wall, Kat and his request for guns, Vince and his easy-going, finding the money, Mason arriving for his money, Kat, in the bathroom, the snake in the bath, escape from the window, the shootouts? Sawyer and the money, letting him go?
8. Preparing to go to get away, Seattle and Alaska, the arrival of Cassidy, the injury to the eye, Kat’s foot, the arrival of Flint, the truth, the army, brutality, Flint sick of hearing all about Kat for three years…?
9. The final fights, the guns, counting the bullets? The shock of the death of Kat’s brother?
10. The overall effect, a laugh thriller, ironic, and the echoes of the Coen brothers?