Writer-director Antonio Campos’ 2008 debut feature, Afterschool, tells the story of an alienated-Internet addicted prep-school student who captures on video camera the drug overdose of two girls. Needless to say there is a psychological undertone and intense spin-off of emotional turmoil. Campos’ Simon Killer takes a similar approach, subjectivity-wise.
The quietly unsettling “Simon Killer”, is mainly focused on american college graduate Simon (Brady Corbet) who wanders the streets of Paris aimlessly, and drifts into a sex parlor where he encounters mysterious prostitute Victoria (Mati Diop). She becomes emotionally involved with Simon who can’t get out of the way of his own self-destructive tendencies.
This indie film is Sort of “An American Psycho’s European Vacation”. The true brilliance of “Simon Killer” is the journey into the mind of Simon, an unlikable young man, who just may be a sociopath in the making.
