LaRoy: funny and inspired (review)
Shane Atkinson makes his mark with a “Coen-style” black comedy that goes beyond a simple stylistic exercise.
LaRoy is like Fargo: a small town you hadn't necessarily heard of before its name became a movie title. And LaRoy (the first feature by debutant Shane Atkinson), it's also a bit like Fargo (the Coen brothers' masterpiece): the story of an average guy, finding his life miserable (his wife cheats on him with his brother, a pretentious idiot with whom he runs a DIY store) and that despair and very bad decisions will lead to a deadly spiral…
Films inspired by the neo-noir and absurdo-minimalist universe of the Coen brothers, we see emerging at regular intervals from the margins of US cinema, but this one is at the top of the basket. From the first scene, which functions almost like a macabre sketch à la Alfred Hitchcock presents, we feel that Atkinson has ideas, a real sense of setting, timing and humor. The rest is a matter of well-oiled story mechanics, which enjoys getting the characters stuck in increasingly sticky and bloody messes.
John Magaro does the pocket William H. Macy very well, Steve Zahn has a blast as a detective in Stetson and bolo tie too happy to have stumbled upon the investigation of his life, and Dylan Baker (the pedophile from Happiness) takes revenge for all the bad guy roles he could have played at the Coens if Steve Buscemi hadn't cheated on him. Shane Atkinson lacks the metaphysical height of view of Joel and Ethan, but there is no hurry: that will come with time.
By Shane Atkinson. With John Magaro, Steve Zahn, Dylan Baker… Duration 1h52. Released April 17, 2024
