Being a huge Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith ("Carol") fan, this film was on my radar from day one of the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and it did not disappoint.
Based on Highsmith's 1960 thriller ("The Blunderer"), A Kind of Murder investigates how quick one is jump to conclusions of guilt or innocence. Architect Walter Stackhouse and his wife Clara have a troubled marriage, but is it troubled enough for Walter to commit murder? On the other side of town Kimmel is accused of murdering his wife and regularly harassed by the cops. Did he or didn't he do it?
Screenwriter/Producer Susan Boyd does a spectacular job of weaving that edge of your seat Hitchcock style with the brilliant story telling of Patricia Highsmith into a fascinating game of cat and mouse.
On the carpet, I asked Susan (hypothetically, of course) what her method of murder would be and this is what she had to say...
Patrick Wilson as Walter Stackhouse
Patrick Wilson as Walter Steakhouse really channels Jimmy Stewart from Rear Window on this one to the point where you have no doubt he did what he's accused of. Meanwhile Kimmel (Eddie Marsan from Showtime's Ray Donovan) give you just enough to doubt him as well.
I'm telling you, this is a great one to catch, but don't watch it alone...
A Kind of Murder is in limited release by Magnolia Pictures on December 16th.