GAY PORN ACTORS ARE TARGETED BY A SERIAL KILLER
★★★★★ (A Must-See)
Director: Yann Gonzalez
2018
In 1979, in the seedy underbelly of Paris’ porn row, a man in a mask begins to target this niche industry’s greatest gay stars, but most of them come to him willingly. A young man at a club allows the stranger to tie him to a bed, a drugged-out actor is more than willing in a convertible. These circumstances add a extra layer of heaviness to these deaths—disenfranchised, these men believed that they could at least trust one another. Knife + Heart is not for the faint of heart.
I often lament that few modern filmmakers take risks or some try and chicken out, causing their movie to fall like a flat joke. Yann Gonzalez is a visionary who swung for the fences and hit it out of the park. Knife + Heart is vibrant and colorful, and the feel is vulnerable, the pulsating beat of sexy secrets hidden under the mattress. Scenes are so lively you might believe you could visit these bars and dives, meet these interesting people. This is a world of night, but not everything is about sex in this film. Other plots in the story involve people just trying to find a connection or dealing with lost romance, a tie-in to our killer’s understandable psychopathy.
The recent murders in the skid row of Paris have one thing in common: Anne Parèze (Vanessa Paradis). This is my favorite Paradis’ performance to date. As the seasoned boss of a studio that churns out quick gay porn to theaters everywhere, our heroine has to hide the pain of her breakup from a co-worker while maintaining her ball-busting attitude. Time is money and these cheap flicks aren’t going to make themselves. Anne is such a rich character, a tough lesbian begging to be loved while also keeping everyone at arm’s length. Though her former lover insists Anne’s alcoholism is the reason they are finished, she still can’t figure out how to fix herself.
At first, it appears that the relationship between Anne and her actors is one of mutual respect, but then the killings of her employees begin, which inspires her to write new murderous scenes in her new porno to exploit the victims for monetary gain. Only her comic-relief bestie—and man in charge of something—Archibald (Nicolas Maury) is fine with this. Archibald could have been the Sassy Gay Friend stereotype, but in Knife + Heart, he’s a guy who wants more from his profession, someone who sticks with Anne while also declaring he’s not shooting any scenes with a maniac out there. As his boss’s new porn develops into a mainstream murder mystery with full-frontal, this overworked and bored actor and his crew are proud of their product for the first time. But is what they’re doing tacky? Are they taking advantage of the dead?
As hinted, Anne doesn’t feel much when the body count starts to rise, but this is because she’s numbed herself with alcohol, has numbed her heart from her breakup. In a way, she’s suicidal and cannot cope. Our heroine sobers up a bit when the third actor is killed in a forest, in broad daylight, during a gathering that included Anne and her colleagues—she realizes it could have been someone she truly loved. This starts her on the journey of finding the culprit, leading her to discover a horrifying crime that gives fans of horror something different. Knife + Heart has graphic, simulated sexual content and visuals reminiscent of vintage giallo, but it’s also a delicious mystery with a psychopath who preys on the weak and vulnerable. Even the police aren’t putting any effort into the investigation because they consider the endangered gay men and transvestites to be disposable. Knife + Heart begs to differ. This film has a moving story and moving history, and only one simple theme: Everyone just wants to be loved.
GENRES: Atmospheric, Diverse Characters, Feminist-Friendly, Giallo, LGBTQ+, Serial Killer
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