Bill Paxton’s “Frailty” is one of the most severely underrated films of the 21st century. If you haven’t seen it, please do. It questions our roles in religion, family and society. A very disturbing piece of cinema.
A major fan of the film is Jeff Nichols. He was a guest on the latest Konbini and managed to single out the marvelous work Paxton did in “Frailty”:
It has one of Matthew McConaughey’s best performances. It’s a strange film that plays with the nature of reality and faith … This film is important. People should talk about it more.
Amen. Nichols is preaching to the choir here. As we continue to miss the late Paxton, one of great character actors of his generation, it has almost been completely forgotten that he directed one of the great horror films of the 21st century, maybe the crowning artistic achievement of his entire career.
Like the best of horror cinema, "Frailty" can be seen as this great tragedy, a family tears itself apart, trying to perform one last dying mission for “divinity.” In the film, Paxton plays a religious fanatic father who claims to have received visions telling him to murder the people closest to him since they might be "demons.
Clearly influenced by Hitchcock, Paxton directed this character piece with tense, taut and terrific direction. There’s this incredible shot where the family first finds the “holy” axe in the barn, with God’s sunlight hitting the weapon. Breathtaking.
There’s no doubt in my mind that “Frailty” will eventually be rediscovered. It barely made a dent at the box-office ($17M) and critics were fairly split on it, but quality cinema doesn’t die, and this film is slowly starting to get reappraised by a whole new generation of cinephiles.