IR Film Review: DEAD SOULS [Kino Lorber]
Alex Cox has always done things his way and with what is marketed as his final film: “Dead Souls” is an interesting interplay on the notion of reality and the con. Made on a shoestring in the middle of Spain, it pays tribute to the spaghetti westerns but with a character called Strindler who wanders in like a bad tax accountant and stirs up trouble, the play is about what we believe. Cox himself plays the man with an earnestness but also a mysteriousness that never really comes to bear but also delivers in many ways. Everyone in this space in Texas in the 1880s wants something as is true of any era. Strindler comes to a small town with a book full of names asking to buy names of dead Mexicans for whomever will sell to him...and he pays well. Cox plays the guy with an aloofishness that is very polite but it guards someone who is doing something else. Of course the first instinct is that Strindler is Death collecting the souls as he moves along but the different actions he takes shows he can make mistakes which plays against that. Strindler wants to erase cemeteries and yet continues his idea of who he thinks people want him to be.
Two times Cox diverges from the narrative including a small animated sequence (done surprisingly by Phil Tippett) and a dream sequence which brings into question what the character actually is. These are meant to raise more questions which they does but also plays to the idea of does Strindler even knows the truth of what he wants or is he just lost in his own reverie. People mistakenly call him Swindler which is pet of the play as well. When Strindler's actions turn murderous almost by default (though it is intended), it is a question whether it even registers or if Cox plays it that way. Of course as the final moments move around Strindler is only too aware of his actions but what good they do him is still in question. He is trusting and yet he is not. He is a swindler and yet he tries to be honest. He is rich and yet he is broke.
This perspective on greed and identity is possibly another play that Cox is trying to approach along with his use of location. There is even a small musical sequence. Even at 71, Cox is trying to play with form while still being a bit subversive even if it is more elusive than it needs to be. “Dead Souls” is a bit more straight laced in satire than most but that is because there is work going on beneath the surface. The chicanery is just part of the play. It is not a trip for everyone but it is one that has its own path and that has always been a key of Cox’s bag of tricks despite the fact that it might not all make sense. 80%/B/B-
By Tim Wassberg
