The Postcard Killings

The Postcard Killings film poster

Streaming on: Netflix

Available for purchase on: Amazon Prime, Google, Apple TV, Redbox, Vudu

Language: English

CC: English

Genre: Crime / Mystery

Content warnings: Gore, "gruesome", smoking, cursing, alcohol as a coping mechanism

Continuing on in my use of Netflix Top 10 Movies in the US today's is "The Postcard Killings" based on the book of the same name. I probably would have watched this one at some point on my own because I'm a bit of "muderino", mystery, and crime fan. It moved up into my awareness thanks to Netflix. Do take note that I have not read the book this film is based so there are no comparisons to how closely or not it keeps to the novel.

A particular mood is set in the opening minute of the film - if watching IVs or blood makes you squeamish this film is probably going to be hard to get through. Cinematically we're going for the gritty, crime, mystery vibes with very "gray" and blue tones in the lighting choices. We're immediately hit with sorrow and lost and the hope of learning why the initial deaths matter to our central character played by Jeffery Dean Morgan whom by the way we don't learn the characters name until about 15 minutes in (and we don't get his full name until 33 minutes in). The despair is very real and human, which I appreciate. Loss and grief are complicated to put on a screen sometimes and the portrayals given feel very real - minus some of the "Hollywood pretty" that grief often gets in films and show. Which is to say makeup is still mostly intact and the sequences are short. The note about it being "gruesome" is solid - it's not torture porn or necessarily over the top though.We don't get active depictions of the killings, just hints and glints and images of the staging left. The images of the staged killings themselves are pretty brutal though. The artistry of it all is absolutely captivating and the cinematographer does a wonderful job throughout the film.

I imagine this film might be harder to track in terms of names of characters if you weren't watching it with CC on - as that's how I was able to keep track of a bulk of the different detectives, reports, and other characters big and small in the film. Not going to lie it sits oddly with me to want to connect to characters and follow them without knowing many of their names - potential victims aside. I do wonder if there is intention in predominantly providing us with the names of the victims more so than any other character. It's also a small note that all of the victims seem to be American couples killed in Europe. The tie-in to use of art in the staging of the victims was a welcomed twist and nudge of insight into the killers mind. For me that's always an appreciated aspect to good fictional crime writing. The red herring of the tattooed couple is solid, and turning them into the next victims did actually catch me by surprise. Our seemingly very All-American couple - her with her blonde shoulder length hair, a little waifish, a little wide-eyed. Him with his dark brown clean cut look, frequently seen in a Varsity jacket, medium build, medium height... making the pair of them read as harmless and perhaps a bit bumbling. The seem to be counter to our other central couple - divorced but some version of amicable, older, we routinely see them in all blacks and grays. It's a neat juxtaposition in a movie where some of the other strongest thematic notes are love, family, and art. Youth versus elder, actively together versus actively apart, criminal vs law force, big money versus not big money (not poverty either though), varying representations of experience. Under this crime movie there's a lot of themes around life and humanity. Or maybe it's just me. Nope... as the movie continues I'm solid it's not just me as we dive into the revelation of childhood abuse and demands of perfection from the father of the killer(s?). Speaking of the father of at least one of our killers, he's played by Denis O'Hare who magnificently delivers on this kind of evil slithering character. A+ to the casting director on this one. Ah yes, we went there - the siblings that are lovers. The siblings that can only turn to each other to find love and comfort together. Their love is a forbidden thing shunned by not just American society but by most pockets of the world, especially in a modern age. I will admit I did not place that from the get-go. Not until we got the flashback of the children brought by their father into a museum did it even occur to me as a possibility. As the film continues we see these forbidden lovers in disagreement, pushed and pulled by one another as well as by the world at large. Will they crumble? Will they get away with it? Will they make it to Russia? Will they outsmart the detectives and journalists from no less than 4 different countries actively involved in this case?

One brief car chase scene in a wintery tundra like area; one kidnapped journalist; some very solid quotes about love, art, rage, and monsters later and we've reached their supposed final killing. Our main NYC detective arrives just he way you want him too and our journalist is saved. Our killers... our killers are last seen as she drags his bleeding body across the snow and ice until the entire scene is a white out. And then we learn that it turns out our "siblings" weren't even siblings but adopted children. Specifically selected adopted children who were raised by a monster with seemingly unlimited resources and power. Which really just seems to be this odd kind of after-the-facts distraction instead of some kind of revelation. A bit of a shame that.

As a whole the movie is a decent watch. It's got lovely cinematography but you reach the end and it just sort of feels like the pacing is off. Like it needed some more time to develop the characters more so than the story. As of the writing of this review there are no plans for a sequel though the film does end with an opening if someone were to green light that project.

Favorite quote:

"You do what is expected. I'm going to do what's needed."