peeker
TracyCITIZEN X: REVIEW
July 4th 2007 22:39
"He rides the Perepitschka!"
Have you ever been such a video-store addict, you spend more time in the video store than it would take to watch a film, searching for a film you haven’t already seen?
Still, it has its merits. Sometimes you discover a great film you’ve never heard of, let alone seen.
Citizen X is about the Russian serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo (played brilliantly by Jeffrey DeMunn), who killed 53 children.
The film derives its name from a paper written by a Russian psychiatrist, Bukhanovsky (Max Von Sydow) profiling the killer before the police knew who he was. Bukhanovsky dubbed him Citizen X.
It is based on Robert Cullen’s book ‘The Killer Department’.
It’s always difficult to write a suspenseful film about a real-life event when nearly everyone already knows the details of the event and how it ended, but it can be done, and this film proves it can.
The film is based around the investigation into the serial murders of the Russian children by the head of Russia’s Killer Department (the equivalent to our Major Crime Squads or America’s Quantico Virginia FBI), Lt Viktor Burakov (played by a sweaty Stephen Rea).
While he’s investigating the murders, the murders just keep piling up.
What makes it even more interesting are the obstacles the main character has to confront and overcome during his investigation.
He is told by the boss of the Killer Department, Bondarchuk (Joss Ackland), “It’s an American phenomenon. There are no serial killers in Russia!”
The only support he gets is from Col Mikhail Fetisov (Donald Sutherland). I’m not his biggest fan but I like his performance in this, and Rea & Sutherland work so well together.
The soundtrack is superb. Original and unique. Haunting. It’s one of those soundtracks like Psycho that just doesn’t leave your mind.
I never like telling people much about a film (apart from the ending just to piss them off?). But I suppose I have to tell people something about it.
This is a far from pathetic film but one of my favourite scenes in it has come to be known as ‘The Pa-te-tic Scene’.
Very few serial killers are like Hannibal Lecter. They are usually so ordinary looking, and lead such ordinary non-eventful lives, no-one suspects them. (No, he’s not a blogger, but Chikatilo fits the profile, and DeMunn plays him perfectly).
The scene I’m referring to is one highlighting Chikatilo’s home non-sex-life with his wife. (Chikatilo was married with two children). He’s in bed with his wife. He rolls on top of her. After about three movements, he’s finished, and rolls off. The wife just rolls her eyes and goes ‘Pa-te-tic!’
It’s just a surprisingly good film if you like crime stories. One that slipped under the radar a bit like the main character.
Have a PEEK!
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Bite your tounge. His son is a hack but he never was.
Odball in Kelly's Heroes- "Always with the negative waves"
Anyway if this is about the killer I am thinking about it should be a great story. I read about this years ago where in the Soviet era there was a serial killer in operating Moscow and only became so successful because the party tried to cover it up rather than catch the killer.
It was appearently the worst kept secret of the time. Word of mouth spread the news.
Comment by David
It's just a really good film.
I've watched it a couple of dozen times. I enjoy it every time I watch it.
David ...
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Disturbing and thoughtful, deserves more attention.
P.S - I am a Donald Sutherland fan, he is Hawk Eye Pearce for me and his part in Dont look Now gives him cinema immortality.