Director: Sean Hogan
Cast: Billy Clarke, Jack Gordon, Jonathan Hansler, Harry Miller
Running time: 75 minutes
Certificate: 18
Synopsis: When two hitmen are assigned to kill an old associate of their boss, Bruno, they go to the target’s house and await his return. But what they discover there disturbs them greatly, and when the marked man returns home, they realise he is no ordinary foe…
Finding its way onto the festival scene at a similar time to the commercial release of Ben Wheatley’s KILL LIST, and with a similar premise, Hogan’s second feature film embodies many of the same themes as its larger-budgeted counterpart. However, it stands alone, and feels more like a three-act play than a feature film, doubtless due to its meagre financial means, four-man cast, and resemblance in style to the work of Pinter and Beckett. It purports Pinter’s commonly used tropes, including absurdism, and the tendency to confine a few characters in an enclosed environment, in order to generate unpredictable dialogue. It is also arguably Beckettian in its employment of minimalism, a bleak outlook on human nature, and gallows humour.
The narrative sees Pinner and Cully sent by Bruno to Kist’s house in order to dispatch his old colleague, who is attending a production of the appropriately themed FAUST. When the two make several gruesome discoveries relating to Kist’s personal practices, they begin to suspect he will not be easy to kill, and when he unexpectedly returns (mirthfully declaring his disapproval of Faust’s denouement), he shows them why they would do well to heed their suspicions.
Hogan makes the most of his limited resources, and does this by utilising the poverty-stricken visionary’s best friends; lighting, dialogue, performance and the audience. THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS demands the audience’s full cooperation at all times, because there are no easy routes to take, but rather they must endure the slow-burning pace and building tension provided by Pinner, Cully and Kist’s interactions. The low-key lighting does well to convey the underlying darkness in the characters, especially Pinner and Kist, and simultaneously forces the audience to focus on these men, instead of their mundane surroundings (there are only two settings throughout). The dense periods of pure dialogue also render the piece more theatrical than filmic, with Clarke (HUNGER) in particular, getting his teeth into some rather meaty monologues.
Clarke and Gordon’s (PANIC BUTTON) chemistry is palpable at times, and the ‘old-hand-guiding-the-new-blood’ scenario induces riveting splashes of black humour and passionate debate. Clarke, who is usually a supporting cast member, steps confidently into the protagonist’s shoes, and Gordon is lovable as the green new recruit, full of trepidation, who still – unlike his teacher – has a semi-functioning moral compass. Hansler (CALL OF THE HUNTER) is also ideally cast as the mysterious Kist, whose lucidity, vast intellect and self-assuredness is genuinely unnerving.
Whilst THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS is not the most original of tales, it is far from trite, and its self reflexiveness is deeply satisfying. If you want to be visually stimulated, then it is perhaps best to avoid this one, but if you seek an enthralling script, with three dimensional characters, that packs a powerful conclusive punch, then do not hesitate to take a leap of faith.
THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS is available on DVD now.
