The Voices (2014)

Directed by: Marjane Satrapi
Country: USA / Germany

Movie Review: Iranian graphic novelist, illustrator and filmmaker, Marjane Satrapi, nailed it again with her new feature film, assuming fearlessly her own ways of expression, and showing she’s comfortable in other genres besides comedy, drama or illustrative fantasy. In “The Voices”, she makes a confident incursion on horror, and the result brought as much of amusing moments as horrific. Everything wrapped in an almost graphical style and covered in tones of fantastic, characteristic aspects already used in her previous works: “Persepolis” and “Chicken with Plums”. The story, set in the small town of Milton, evolves around Jerry (Ryan Reynolds), the new employee of Milton Fixture & Faucet, whose pink uniform and smiling face make us completely unsuspicious about the treacherous psychological state he is about to get into. To make the things clearer, Jerry is a disturbed, psychotic man who is being medicated since childhood, after a terrible experience that impelled him to take his mother’s life. Undecided about taking the pills, he keeps having long and weird conversations with his pets: Mr. Whiskas, the cat; and Bosco, the dog. While the dog calms him down by praising his good nature, the sardonic cat pulls out his darker instincts, awakening the killer in him. Jerry falls in love more than one time, showing he wants to change and lead a normal life, but fortuitous circumstances will trigger savage actions, which he momentarily regrets but recovers quickly enough to go on living in his delusional world. The film never slows down, maintaining a balanced pace and solid coordination between light drollery and heavy gore. Ryan Reynolds, invoking Alan Bates in his performance, was the key for success, strongly backed up by the rest of the cast.