Matthew McConaughey might have kicked off his acting career by playing comical laid-back loser Wooderson in Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused,” and he’s starred in his fair share of romantic comedies, but over the years, he’s become known as one of the best dramatic actors around. McConaughey will always give a performance his all, and he’s excellent when he’s playing someone a bit haunted, like Rust Cohle on the hit HBO series “True Detective,” but there’s one hidden gem of a film he stars in that deserves more love: “Frailty,” the directorial debut of the late actor Bill Paxton.
“Frailty” is an unusual thriller that seems to transcend various crime subgenres, held together by phenomenal cinematography courtesy of Bill Butler and unforgettable lead performances by McConaughey and Paxton. In fact, the late Roger Ebert gave the film a perfect 4 out of 4 stars in his review, saying that “Frailty” is “a complex film that grips us with the intensity of a simple one,” highlighting the writing and acting and praising Paxton’s passionate direction. For the thriller or horror fan looking to get scared and have their soul crushed a little, “Frailty” is the goods.
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Frailty is a twisted family nightmare
In “Frailty,” Paxton plays a man we only ever know as “Dad,” who believes he sees an angel who commands him to kill evil-doers, and he also purports to see people’s sins so that he can judge them. He enlists his two young sons into helping him with his murders, which he views as a kind of holy justice. “Frailty” is pretty brutal despite not being all that gory or gruesome, instead leaning into the psychological horrors of being raised by a father who believes he’s been commanded by God to kill. McConaughey plays one of Dad’s two grown sons who has gone to the FBI to try and confess to his role in the crimes, and with him serving as our extremely unreliable narrator, we’re taken on a tour of a tragic and twisted childhood that drove at least one of Dad’s boys to madness of his own.
What makes “Frailty” so darn good is that nothing is absolute, and no one is a simple caricature. Dad is very human, a loving father who also happens to be a willing killer, and his visions are depicted in such a way that we understand why he believes what he does. Whether or not the demonic entities Dad hunts are real is left ambiguous, and it’s up to the viewer whether or not his son is actually able to see the evil in people or if he’s just inherited his father’s mania. “Frailty” is one seriously messed-up religious horror movie, but it’s so expertly made that it’s worth checking out for even the more skittish viewer. It’s no wonder that Ebert appreciated this underseen flick, and hopefully its cult status only continues to grow.
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