May 24–31, 2001

movie shorts

Chopper

This stylish but confused Australian film — the first by director Andrew Dominik — isn’t composed of much beyond its fashionably passive acceptance of violence and the performance of Aussie standup Eric Bana as Mark "Chopper" Read, a garrulous psycho who’s made himself famous writing about the people he’s supposedly killed. (He’s only been convicted of minor offenses, so for most of the movie, he’s free to roam the streets.) "Chopper," it turns out, is a real figure, and the movie’s obviously meant to play off and (supposedly) examine his celebrity, which doesn’t mean much in a country where he’s all but unknown. The film’s not self-contained enough to be satisfying; it’s more like an extended skit.

—Sam Adams