The NYTimes did a quick review of American Psycho, a great movie about high-powered business execs in the 1980s and a serial killer among them. It's great; disturbing, but great.
While I've been a fan of the film since I first saw it a few years ago, the review does pick out some points that I hadn't considered. Namely, the issues of identity. Patrick Bateman, the killer, leads an empty life covered over with the trappings of an ultra-rich lifestyle. I took much of Bateman's personal despair as a desperate cry for help and deliverance from his own madness. However, the NYTimes reviewer takes it a step further by suggesting that Bateman's murders are a perverse and twisted reaction against the soulless corporate world of Wall Street. Bateman and his ilk are completely interchangeable -- in fact, mistaken identity is a recurring theme of the film. Bateman, according to the NYTimes, longs to be an individual, and to have an inner-life, but these desires are twisted by his own madness, leaving him doubly trapped in the uncaring world in which he lives, and within his terrifying psychosis.
If you think you can stomach the movie, and it is certainly a rough movie to watch, I highly recommend it. If you can't, then please enjoy this, the famous "business card scene." It's completely safe for work, and guaranteed to be only existentially terrifying.
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