Marty is an alcoholic Los Angeles screenwriter with a title for a script and no characters. His friend Billy, a dognapper, steals a gangster's Shih Tzu and drags him into real violence. Worth watching for how the movie keeps arguing with its own ending.
Seven Psychopaths is a 2012 crime and comedy film directed by Martin McDonagh. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (4 narrative and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Sanjuro uses several of the same techniques.
Letting characters or stories cross the boundary between fiction and the real world inside the film. It plays with how much we rely on stories to cope with life.
How this film uses it
Marty's script drafts and the real violence blur together. The story keeps asking whether writing a violent ending is any different from living one.
Where to see it
The screenplay arguments: in the desert hideout, Billy and Marty argue about how the script should end while the real killing continues.
Showing extreme, violent or surreal events while the characters react as if nothing unusual is happening. That mismatch is funny and unsettling at the same time.
How this film uses it
Billy and Hans steal dogs for reward money, and the characters treat it as a job. They treat kidnapping pets as an ordinary side job, even when one dog belongs to a gangster.
Where to see it
The dognapping: Billy and Hans steal Bonny, a Shih Tzu owned by the gangster Charlie Costello.
Using a genre's familiar rules, like its heroes and its violence, to take those rules apart. The film turns your expectations into a political point the genre usually avoids.
How this film uses it
The film uses the usual crime-movie violence and then questions what it is worth. It makes you reconsider the genre's easy payoffs.
Where to see it
The desert showdown: the trio hides in the Southwest desert with Bonny, and the film debates how a violent story should end.
Letting a character win arguments by telling stories instead of arguing directly. A good anecdote changes how the listeners see the problem.
How this film uses it
Marty collects stories for his script from characters he meets. The Quaker and the Vietnamese priest tales change how he and the audience see violence.
Where to see it
The Quaker and the priest: Marty collects tales about a vengeful Quaker and a Viet Cong fighter disguised as a priest, and they feed his script.
Questions
Seven Psychopaths: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Seven Psychopaths use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Seven Psychopaths (2012): Fiction Crossing Into Reality, Deadpan Absurdism, Revisionist Genre Argument, Psychological Doubling and Persuasion by Anecdote.
Who directed Seven Psychopaths?
Martin McDonagh directed Seven Psychopaths, released in 2012. CineCode also covers In Bruges (2008), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022).
What films are similar to Seven Psychopaths?
Films that share techniques with Seven Psychopaths include Sanjuro (1962), Adaptation. (2002), The Long Goodbye (1973), Logan (2017).
