KILLER OF SHEEP ssss
WHERE Music Box, 3733 N. Southport
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We also catch a few glimpses of the hero at his job, but most of what we know about his work and how he feels about it comes from seeing his general alienation and exhaustion when he’s at home: repairing the kitchen sink or laying out linoleum, sluggishly dancing with his wife in the living room, berating his son for addressing her in a “country” fashion as “dear,” refusing to participate in a robbery being planned by a couple of neighbors, or trying to fix a broken down car.
In 1990, Killer of Sheep was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 50 titles to enter the National Film Registry. And though it had a successful run in New York earlier this year, its approach to its subject is more lyrical and reflective than dynamic and dramatic, so it’ll never be a hit. People looking for action will probably be as turned off by it as Janet Maslin was when she panned it in the New York Times in 1978.
I saw My Brother’s Wedding two or three times at various festivals in the mid-80s and didn’t think it seemed unfinished; in fact, I even remember preferring it to Killer of Sheep, in part because it has a more sustained and very affecting story line. My point, inany case, is that with a career as hard to keep tabs on as Burnett’s, we’re as far from being able to see, much less assess and rank, all his works, as we still are with Welles. So for the time being, let’s just say that Killer of Sheep–which is finally reaching us properly, the way it should have 30 years ago–is the best place to start.
