Dominik's Killing Them Softly

Andrew Dominik's 2012 American film Killing Them Softly is a screen-adaptation of George Higgins' 1974 crime novel Cogan's Trade. Dominik's screenplay sets the action in modern America during the 2008 election campaign, which serves as a backdrop to the action of the film and allows both director/screenwriter Dominik and his cast of characters to ironically and wittily juxtapose their own agendas, ends and pursuits with those of the political world. Indeed, the film's subtext or undertone is really as pronounced as the main drama, paralleling the narrative in the final race to the showdown: the execution of the robbers of the card game and the election of a new ring leader (aka President of the United States). This paper will show how Dominik uses the underground world of organized crime to parallel and criticize the state of American politics and economics.

Storytelling, Editing, Style and Directing...
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