There are two kinds of "heist" movies: the kind in which a brilliant group of criminals stylishly executes a stunning plan, flawlessly obsconding with vast wealth and the other kind in which a pretty good plan goes horribly and violently wrong. Killing Zoe, however, is a third sort of heist film in which the plan isn't that good, is probably set up to fail from the start and goes sickeningly awry in a spectacularly brutal fashion. Eric Stoltz plays Zed, an American safecracker in Paris at the request of his friend, Eric, played by Jean-Hugues Anglade. While Zed's waiting for Eric to show up the next morning, he decides to take on the services a working-girl, Zoe, played by Julie Delpy. Eric is quite unpleased by this when he arrives in the morning and proceeds to pull Zoe out of the shower and tosses her out into the hall. Eric despises "whores" and warns Zed he'll get AIDS from one of the aformentioned prostitutes.
Aside from being an excellent actress, particularly in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, Julie Delpy is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in my entire 24 years. It's her eyes, there's something warm and lovely about her eyes. They're delightfully inviting. Her eyes are reason enough to die in a war. She's the sort of alluring beauty that makes one glad to exist. This has nothing to do with Killing Zoe, but if anybody knows Julie, just go ahead and pass this along.
Anyway, Eric wants Zed to help him and his cronies break a certain safe at a federal reserve bank. Pretty standard stuff, until they all shoot up and down bottles of cheap wine for the next 6-7 hours prior to their big job. Why the self-destructive behavior? Eric has AIDS, so deep down, he probably couldn't care less about himself or anything else. So much is evident when Eric starts blowing away bank employees for no good reason. To further worsen the situation, Zoe turns up as an employee at said bank. One silent alarm later and things really start to go bad. Though the first part of the film is a bit slow, the pace really quickens inside the bank. It's definitely a movie worth seeing, as the plot takes some unique twists and several elements are very stylish.
Posted by Mike at April 30, 2005 10:50 PM