When you get involved in large criminal enterprises; there’s always the issue of how you can get paid in a way that allows you to enjoy the fruits of ill-gotten gains. The US government tracks bank accounts and large purchases to keep up and coming mobsters from living like rock stars on an episode of MTV’s Cribs. But there are ways around the system to look like you’re actually “earning” the money. Tony Soprano pulled in a salary from being a consultant in the solid waste disposal industry. This is good if you want to look like a family man in the suburbs of New Jersey. But what if you want to be a high roller in the city? I was told by an FBI agent that that best way criminals openly swap money for their various vices and services is real estate and art. If you’re in a hot market, nobody thinks anything is up when someone sells a house, condo or plot of land for twice the value. Nobody thinks that the difference is the price of an unreported cocaine deal. The same is true for art. Rumors have swirled that the international mobsters were using NFTs as part of their illicit deals. The Kill Room is a film that explores how criminals can use the art world to launder the cash in their operations and reunites two leads from Pulp Fiction.
Patrice (Mad Dog and Glory‘s Uma Thurman) runs a struggling art gallery. She screwed up and dumped an artist who is now hot. Now she’s dealing with a less than glamourous opening for her latest find Grace (Stranger Things‘ Maya Hawke) and unable to pay her dealer that supplies Adderall that she sniffs to help her anxieties. Things aren’t looking good for her future as bills mount. It’s not cheap to run a gallery in Manhattan. Her luck is about to change when Gordon (The Avengers‘ Samuel L. Jackson) drops by with a business proposition. While he has a legit bakery in New Jersey, he can’t quit launder the money his criminal enterprise is producing. He wants to just funnel money through her gallery. Anyone who wants her service would cut her a check for art, she’d slice off her share as the dealer and he’d keep the rest of the cash. At first, she’s not down for being part of such a shady deal. This morality collapses when she realizes that pretty much anyone that’s successful in the art business deals with criminals, war criminals and arms dealers. She’s broke and eager for a taste of success. She makes a deal with Gordon. He can use her, but he has to provide her with the art that will be sold as part of the scheme. There has to be real art in the system to cover her operation as legit. Gordon is too busy baking so he has his main man crank out the primitive art. Reggie (True Blood‘s Joe Manganiello) gets stuck having to juggle time to paint with contract killing for his mobster bosses. This arrangement works out great as people who need someone snuffed just buys a painting to get the job done. The plan goes out of control when buzz begins to swirl. How is this unknown artist able to get people paying $150,000 for his work that hasn’t received any critical notice? Grace gets upset that her Patrice can’t move her work at those prices. The gallery becomes hot for this new sensation, but Patrice realizes that there’s a cost for achieving success with these terms. She thinks that she’s just part of the usual laundering drug money instead of the payment method at a murder for hire business. How bad will her anxieties get when she realizes what her great discovery does for his day job?
The Kill Room is a dark comedy that brings together the criminal and art world like a mixed media project. It’s great to see Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson together since they didn’t share the screen in Pulp Fiction. Jackson is given a very unique character as a baker who deals in two types of dough. Uma Thurman has the art dealer attitude down pat. She’s working every angle in the room to sell a piece and look a touch more prestigious than reality. Joe Manganiello could have easily been obscured by his two co-stars. Instead, he shines as the killer who finds himself an art world sensation despite his mobster bosses not being happy at bringing attention to what should have been a lowkey money laundering operation. They can’t afford to lose their top snuff superstar. We learn why Joe has to do what he does. This reflects in his art, especially when he goes from painting to more involved found object sculptures. He brings enough comedy so that we can laugh at him being torn between art and crime. We can also believe he can kill a mobster with his bare hands. There is a touch of fun getting to watch Uma Thurman work with her daughter Maya Hawke. Uma is so cold to her that you can believe they aren’t related.
The Kill Room reminds us of how the art world can easily be exploited by a criminal operation. But instead of being a docu-drama, we’re give a bizarre comedy. Director Nicol Paone and screenwriter Jonathan Jacobson keeps the action ground enough so that you can fear that cast members might vanish. Perhaps the next time you go to a gallery and see an expensive work of art, you’ll ponder if it’s priced for a different reason or if the artwork has been used in an actual crime.
Available for Purchase or Rent in the U.S. and Canada
AppleTV, Amazon, GooglePlay, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft, DirecTV, DISH, and other digital platforms.
Shout! Studios present The Kill Room. Directed by Nicol Paone. Screenwriter by Jonathan Jacobson. Starring Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Manganiello and Maya Hawke. Rating: Rated R. Running Time: 98 Minutes. Release Date: November 3, 2023.
