American Psycho
Mary Harron / US, 2000 / 102 min.
Adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ satirical book about the new type of businessmen emerging during the 1980s: vain, greedy, superficial and cruel. In an Armani suit, straight from the hairdresser’s and coked-up to the gills he rids himself of everything that annoys him.
The 1980s: the era of yuppie dominance. Take Patrick Bateman, a
successful Wall Street banker who likes to spend big on designer clothes and has an apartment straight out of a high-end interior magazine. The bathroom is well stocked with the most expensive skincare products and the huge dressing room has row after row of suits by Armani, Yves Saint Laurent and Versace.
What his Wall Street colleagues don't know, is that Bateman likes to pick up city dwellers after work to take them back to his apartment, cut them up into manageable pieces with his surgical precision tools and stuff them in the freezer.
Understated satire
Filmmaker Mary Harron's prime focus is not so much on Bateman's acts of horror as on the psychology of this – unimaginable – character. The film is also an understated satire on the '80s, when clouds of cocaine-filled the streets of Manhattan and bankers and other riff-raff believed to be kings of the world.
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Details
Director
Mary Harron
Production year
2000
Country
US
Original title
American Psycho
Length
102 min.
Language
English
Format
35mm
Part of
Cinema Ecologica
Much in life is uncertain, but one thing is sure: climate change. Cinema Ecologica focuses on how film directors depict the relationship between humanity and the earth: from nail-biting disaster films to artistic meditations, from romantic nature experiences to astounding science fiction.
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