Post by daniel on Jan 30, 2021 19:35:46 GMT -5
The good people of Reddit are frustrating me, once again.
"The Little Things" is a detective tale that, on the surface, might seem to harken to the likes of "True Detective," or other familiar detective tales, but this one has something different to offer. Jared Leto truly shines in this movie, but it's easy to forget he's in this until he finally shows up somewhere around the halfway mark. From there, he drives an accelerated character development, or devolvement, with Malek's detective character.
The ending is meant to cause a question of crisis with one of the characters, but not the audience. We see the journey throughout, and experience a journey of frustrating as a different game of cat-and-mouse plays out.
Unfortunately, Redditors seem to be highly confused about what actually happened in the movie, and what it's about. Spoilers ahead:
Anyway, I loved this. It has been a rough go with movie releases, which is partially to blame on COVID, so it was refreshing to have something smart and layered come along.
9/10
"The Little Things" is a detective tale that, on the surface, might seem to harken to the likes of "True Detective," or other familiar detective tales, but this one has something different to offer. Jared Leto truly shines in this movie, but it's easy to forget he's in this until he finally shows up somewhere around the halfway mark. From there, he drives an accelerated character development, or devolvement, with Malek's detective character.
The ending is meant to cause a question of crisis with one of the characters, but not the audience. We see the journey throughout, and experience a journey of frustrating as a different game of cat-and-mouse plays out.
Unfortunately, Redditors seem to be highly confused about what actually happened in the movie, and what it's about. Spoilers ahead:
Redditors are saying things like "Wow, Malek's character jumped the shark and just became this weak idiot!"
"Denzel is the killer!"
And, yet, there is nothing to suggest that Denzel was the killer, and the only thing that makes Malek appear to look tough is actually an insecure, overcompensating need to act like a dick. That's not being confident or secure, quite the opposite in fact.
Malek starts out in the film acting like a completely over-the-line hard-ass. It's apparent he's overcompensating, and his tough guy routine takes a bit of a half-step back when he realizes who Denzel is and suddenly is very interested in having a veteran detective help him out. He's insecure, weaker than he puts on, new to the department, and he will take all the help he can get, even if it means sneaking around his department and putting a mark on his own career. More on him later.
How anyone has drawn the conclusion Denzel is the serial killer is beyond baffling as well. We are given a number of arrows that point us to Leto, but don't quite connect. The highway marker, the mileage on his car, his access to the victim's apartment, the fact he fits the profile, his arousal at the photos of the crime scenes, the roast beef meal near his place, his beer matching that found in the apartment that was left there post-mortem, the witness making a partial identification of Leto, the explanation of the differences in teeth marks (because of his teeth implant), his knowledge of facts that weren't released to the public, his slip in the interrogation that he knows someone is dead before it was announced. The smoking gun was his stash in his apartment. If he had nothing to hide and he simply was just obsessed with crime stories, he wouldn't have been hiding his stash, he'd have it up on the walls.
However, despite the overwhelming number of coincidences, it's all circumstantial, but it's a mountain of circumstantial evidence, and it's enough for both the detectives and the audience to know Leto is guilty, but Leto's character thrives on the fact that they still don't have anything concrete to tie him to the murders.
Leto continuously toys with the detectives. Malek's character, someone who is trying to put some walk behind his talk by solving a big case, is being driven completely mad that he has all the answers right there in front of him, but can't find the smoking gun that he needs. Leto's character understands this too. He says in the interrogation room "if you had something substantial on me, I'd be in cuffs" or something to that effect. He sees Denzel snap, taunts him when it happens. He knows he's gotten to him.
Leto messes with Malek at the stakeout. He knows they're down there, he might even see Malek nodding off. He pranks Malek with the payphone, which prompts Malek to also snap and start roughing him up. Leto is eating it up, so he decides to keep playing his game. He has Malek drive him out to a site where he claims the smoking gun lies, the body is hidden. No one believes it's going to be that straight-forward. We as an audience are feeling something grave when Malek gets into that car. We know this is going somewhere awful, and we suspect Malek is about to face a terrible situation. It isn't what one expects. We are almost manipulated by the camera into believing Leto is going to grab Malek's gun and attack him, but that attack never comes. Instead, Leto continues to taunt Malek, having him dig another hole. There's no body out there. It doesn't mean Leto is innocent, it just means he's not going to give them the piece that ties it all up. He's going to continue to taunt them to the point he makes one of them desperate enough to get into his vehicle, and start digging holes out in the desert. He realizes how weak Marek is, and he preys on him. Then, Malek snaps, but it's a moment that ends Leto's life.
Denzel drives up and sees the scene, understands Malek has taken a life without proper evidence, and that there will be consequences.
Malek takes a break, and Denzel has a sneaking feeling that Malek will question if he actually had the right guy, despite the facts. When he opens the hidden box at Leto's home, it's later revealed it's empty. Any hopes of a barrette or other evidence is gone. So, Denzel provides it anyway. He knows Malek is going to need it to accept what he did, give himself encouragement he killed the right guy, and move on. And, you see his response when he pulls out the barrette. He goes from looking comatose, to managing a halfway smirk or smile, and being able to look at his daughters again.
Denzel releases him of a guilt he himself lives with. His actions took so much from him, and his guilt even moreso. His wife tells him he should call his daughters sometime. I bet they're around the same age as the young woman he killed in a moment of mistaken identity, and he can't seem to face them. He speaks to the first dead body with a degree of remorse for her, but also an underlying guilt that her killer was one he himself had investigated a couple years before, but never caught.
So, yeah, I'm genuinely curious how people are confused about both the character journey of Malek, along with this conclusion that Denzel was the killer. We watched him investigate the murder, alone, on his own. Why would a killer be spending his time searching for clues and leads in his alone time?
"Denzel is the killer!"
And, yet, there is nothing to suggest that Denzel was the killer, and the only thing that makes Malek appear to look tough is actually an insecure, overcompensating need to act like a dick. That's not being confident or secure, quite the opposite in fact.
Malek starts out in the film acting like a completely over-the-line hard-ass. It's apparent he's overcompensating, and his tough guy routine takes a bit of a half-step back when he realizes who Denzel is and suddenly is very interested in having a veteran detective help him out. He's insecure, weaker than he puts on, new to the department, and he will take all the help he can get, even if it means sneaking around his department and putting a mark on his own career. More on him later.
How anyone has drawn the conclusion Denzel is the serial killer is beyond baffling as well. We are given a number of arrows that point us to Leto, but don't quite connect. The highway marker, the mileage on his car, his access to the victim's apartment, the fact he fits the profile, his arousal at the photos of the crime scenes, the roast beef meal near his place, his beer matching that found in the apartment that was left there post-mortem, the witness making a partial identification of Leto, the explanation of the differences in teeth marks (because of his teeth implant), his knowledge of facts that weren't released to the public, his slip in the interrogation that he knows someone is dead before it was announced. The smoking gun was his stash in his apartment. If he had nothing to hide and he simply was just obsessed with crime stories, he wouldn't have been hiding his stash, he'd have it up on the walls.
However, despite the overwhelming number of coincidences, it's all circumstantial, but it's a mountain of circumstantial evidence, and it's enough for both the detectives and the audience to know Leto is guilty, but Leto's character thrives on the fact that they still don't have anything concrete to tie him to the murders.
Leto continuously toys with the detectives. Malek's character, someone who is trying to put some walk behind his talk by solving a big case, is being driven completely mad that he has all the answers right there in front of him, but can't find the smoking gun that he needs. Leto's character understands this too. He says in the interrogation room "if you had something substantial on me, I'd be in cuffs" or something to that effect. He sees Denzel snap, taunts him when it happens. He knows he's gotten to him.
Leto messes with Malek at the stakeout. He knows they're down there, he might even see Malek nodding off. He pranks Malek with the payphone, which prompts Malek to also snap and start roughing him up. Leto is eating it up, so he decides to keep playing his game. He has Malek drive him out to a site where he claims the smoking gun lies, the body is hidden. No one believes it's going to be that straight-forward. We as an audience are feeling something grave when Malek gets into that car. We know this is going somewhere awful, and we suspect Malek is about to face a terrible situation. It isn't what one expects. We are almost manipulated by the camera into believing Leto is going to grab Malek's gun and attack him, but that attack never comes. Instead, Leto continues to taunt Malek, having him dig another hole. There's no body out there. It doesn't mean Leto is innocent, it just means he's not going to give them the piece that ties it all up. He's going to continue to taunt them to the point he makes one of them desperate enough to get into his vehicle, and start digging holes out in the desert. He realizes how weak Marek is, and he preys on him. Then, Malek snaps, but it's a moment that ends Leto's life.
Denzel drives up and sees the scene, understands Malek has taken a life without proper evidence, and that there will be consequences.
Malek takes a break, and Denzel has a sneaking feeling that Malek will question if he actually had the right guy, despite the facts. When he opens the hidden box at Leto's home, it's later revealed it's empty. Any hopes of a barrette or other evidence is gone. So, Denzel provides it anyway. He knows Malek is going to need it to accept what he did, give himself encouragement he killed the right guy, and move on. And, you see his response when he pulls out the barrette. He goes from looking comatose, to managing a halfway smirk or smile, and being able to look at his daughters again.
Denzel releases him of a guilt he himself lives with. His actions took so much from him, and his guilt even moreso. His wife tells him he should call his daughters sometime. I bet they're around the same age as the young woman he killed in a moment of mistaken identity, and he can't seem to face them. He speaks to the first dead body with a degree of remorse for her, but also an underlying guilt that her killer was one he himself had investigated a couple years before, but never caught.
So, yeah, I'm genuinely curious how people are confused about both the character journey of Malek, along with this conclusion that Denzel was the killer. We watched him investigate the murder, alone, on his own. Why would a killer be spending his time searching for clues and leads in his alone time?
Anyway, I loved this. It has been a rough go with movie releases, which is partially to blame on COVID, so it was refreshing to have something smart and layered come along.
9/10
