Author and now screenwriter, Cormac McCarthy, best known for Blood Meridian, All The Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men, works that present moral dilemmas often accompanied by perilous consequences, has joined forces with Ridley Scott and a cadre of top and highly photogenic talent for Tex-Mex drama, The Counsellor.
McCarthy’s original screenplay features Michael Fassbender as a slick lawyer who becomes part of a high stakes drug deal. Fassbender’s cool, calm middle man stands in marked contrast to the cartoon-like sensibility of his friend and co-partner, Reiner (Javier Bardem).
The Counsellor boasts very distinct characterisations for all of the main cast members. Brad Pitt’s Westray is all sports cowboy chic, Cameron Diaz’s Malkina wears metallic, studded sharp couture as daywear and Penélope Cruz goes for virginal soft whites. The film, too, drops the audience into the story with established relationships already set thus stripping away expected exposition. We have, instead, a movie that is structured with chapter-like scenes pitched as short morality plays.
Scott’s direction and framing is typically beautiful. The notable use of medium close-ups creates a sense of tension and there are stand-out scenes, one of which is likely to outstrip Basic Instinct, involving Diaz and a car. Cruz’s character, however, comes across as very underwritten but as with the others, The Counsellor appears more interested archetypes and a plot befitting a Greek tragedy than a portrayal of realistic characters in a contemporary criminal milieu.
Mairéad has awarded The Counsellor three Torches of Truth
