Simon Killer 2012

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Though the film's ice-cold blend of the cerebral and the atavistic can be off-putting, it enables a queasy portrait of moral disengagement that lingers long after Simon has slipped from the screen. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Self-consciousness passing for style. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: It takes the all-too-common feelings of loneliness and disorientation and shows in disturbing detail how that can shade into madness. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "Simon Killer" is a beautifully made look at ugliness and brutality, the kind of oxymoronic exercise that fascinates some and repels others. Read more

Amanda Mae Meyncke, Film.com: Simon Killer utilizes music better than any other movie I've seen at Sundance, loud and bombastic, half the time we hear sounds as filtered through Simon's iPod earbuds. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: An unpalatable Franco-American entree one would like to send back to wherever it came from. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: It is brutally raw and difficult watching. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Simon Killer is a sensory, experiential film - more of a state of mind than a straightforward story. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: The film is frequently masterful, suggesting the turbulent inner state of an American sociopath who believes himself to be a good guy. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Sort of "An American Psycho's European Vacation," this indie dramatic thriller mixes sex and violence and still winds up dull. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A noirish character study of a young American in Paris, "Simon Killer" chillingly combines the classic amoral drifter out of James M. Cain with a very contemporary figure - the overemotional, overeducated, spineless slacker. Read more

Simon Abrams, Chicago Sun-Times: A relentless and largely unrewarding descent into an ostensibly personal hell. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A brilliantly orchestrated work of cinema in a grimy, 1970s vein. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Another terrific performance from Brady Corbet, but it's in the service of a parade of horrors that never leads anywhere interesting. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: The overall sense
of chilly disengagement becomes trying, and there's a last-minute switch that suggests that Campos is trying to have his croissant and eat it. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: An aesthetically fussed-over, feel-bad character study-the ugly American narrative rejiggered for Generation Hipster. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: This noncommittal technique, relying on a combination of audience projection and unknowable complexity, defies the old-fashioned pleasure of peeling the onion of character psychology, but rewards those willing to read between the lines. Read more

Chris Klimek, Village Voice: If Simon Killer's tragic drift is predictable, the seedy particulars still engross. Read more