Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer
A Review by Aaron Barrocas


Fun title - right? Thankfully, it's not a bait and switch. Fun is the focus here. Every single thing about this movie tickles. The story is a constantly evolving journey into absurdity, told through an inspired lens, and accompanied by the most playful score imaginable. This is the brain-teasing type of flick that I remember discovering with delight as the indie film wave of the 90s hit its peak, and suddenly Henry Fool and Slacker and Hard Eight and Smoke were showing us a type of filmmaking that we weren’t used to. We were watching movies that more closely resembled novels than the usual box office hits.

Central to this revolution in cinema was Steve Buscemi. A staple in early Coen Brothers films, Buscemi soon found himself as the face of sharp independent cinema, with In The Soup, Living in Oblivion, Trees Lounge, Reservoir Dogs, and many more indies shot on low budgets with limited locations where the script was truly the thing. His distinct face, voice, and in-depth understanding of the human condition made his mug on a poster a promise of a memorable movie experience. For this reason, his co-starring role in Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer is not only a very welcome turn, but it also sets the expectations of the film perfectly and accurately. Add in the fact that Buscemi is among the list of producers, and we trust this movie - rightfully so.

In PT:TSTOAWWDTWAASK, John Magaro plays Keane, a somewhat obnoxious writer who is on the verge of losing his significantly more impressive and interesting wife, Suzie, played by Britt Lower. She seems to feel that she married a loser, and after about ten minutes with the two of them, we don’t necessarily disagree. Years ago, he wrote a book that won an award, mainly because he fudged details about his own cultural identity, and for the past four years he has achieved almost nothing aside from planning what sounds like the most unrelatable novel ever written. It’s obvious that Keane was once an engaging person, but in recent years he seems to have become comfortable simply not being that person.

Inexplicably, Keane’s one book was inspirational to Kollnick (Buscemi), who approaches him with a much sexier idea for his next one - a deep dive into the mind of a serial killer. Kollnick is uniquely qualified to assist Keane in the process, as he is a retired serial killer.

In a drunken moment of weakness, Keane agrees to Kollnick’s idea, or at least doesn’t outright reject it, and Kollnick agrees to be Keane’s “counselor”. Suzie, upon being accidentally introduced to Kollnick as a counselor, assumes Keane has taken the initiative of hiring a marriage counselor, and is so impressed by his efforts that Keane can’t let her down with the truth. Thus begins the darkest ever episode of Three’s Company, where a (retired) serial killer uses his own life experience to help a struggling couple rekindle their flame. From that point on, the miscommunication increases, the assumptions fly, and as Kollnick shows Keane the ropes of getting away with murder, the danger skyrockets.

This is a love story, where Keane and Suzie have the opportunity to meet each other again for the first time, after years of marriage has made them invisible to each other. Keane must almost literally grow or die, and Suzie has a menacingly macabre side to her that couldn’t be more entertaining to watch. We also get to watch her frequent re-appraisal of her husband, and the dramatic irony of us having a huge window into his activities, versus how it all looks from her perspective, is a consistently clever dynamic.

Britt Lower’s Suzie is a constant enigma. We learn quickly that she is unpredictable, and even potentially violent, and that fact combined with her marital dissatisfaction makes her a dangerous threat. These intriguing character elements make her our focal point early on - more so than Keane, who is ostensibly our protagonist. Whatever is happening in the movie is always brought back to Suzie - whether it’s the impact something is having on her, or how her presence affects and changes not only each scene, but the overall story. Britt Lower quietly carries the film’s A plot through its first two acts, while we all pretend it’s a movie about Keane, which works well because the uneven distribution of responsibility is among Suzie’s major complaints about their marriage in the first place. Magaro as Keane is unfortunately a recognizable personality. You may have met somebody like him. I have, and that guy stinks. Magaro tapped into the most painfully un-self-aware personality a man can have, and embraced that character entirely. From the first few frames, we strongly suspect that Keane won’t make it to the end credits alive, and we’re honestly only a little bothered by that.

It’s hard to tell if Buscemi was expertly directed, or if he just looked at the script and said, “yeah, I’ve got this”. He is quite at home in the role as somebody who doesn’t fit into society, but is still head and shoulders more together than the couple fate has saddled him with. Kollnick seems to think he will be a Hannibal Lecter or a Jimmy Conway – calmly sharing years of well-earned criminal knowledge, but he soon becomes Mr. Wilson, admonishing mischievous Dennis for chloroforming an Albanian mob boss. Buscemi’s quiet, curmudgeonly Kollnick couldn’t be more amusing as he regularly chooses to show on his face what he won’t say out loud.

The only true issue I found with the story, and it’s a minor complaint, is that we move so rapidly from the second to the third act that we miss out on a bit more milking of the couple’s therapy sessions. Building the Jenga tower higher before pulling the crucial blocks in the action-packed final reels might have bought the film some more satisfaction in its closing scenes. We spend a good amount of the early film wondering who might be trying to kill who, and the characters spend their energy on the same puzzle - in their own separate ways. Slowing down the revelations of who was correct and who wasn’t, and how wrong we were or weren’t may have broadened our smiles a touch at the end. That being said, those smiles are there regardless. The third act is a full-speed sprint, and it works.

The cinematography embraces slow, wide and bright shots. Director of Photography Natalie Kingston creates a style that is at times reminiscent of Wes Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, or even Stanley Kubrick films. The camera becomes an effectively used character as Kollnick’s creepy hotel room, gangster filled bars, New York City Streets, and Keane and Suzie’s home all become their own unique worlds.

Composer Nathan Klein seems to be having a party. This is not a score that invisibly supports the narrative, but rather a few dozen different tracks that kick it forward at full speed. The score is a drunk person in the seat next to you yelling “are you seeing this?”. And in doing so, adding quite a bit of enjoyment to the moment.

Writer/Director Tolga Karaçelik keeps our attention throughout, bringing constant kinetic energy to his grisly comedy-of-errors script. Tolga has been directing films and tv shows for well over a decade, and at this point his mastery of the craft is very clear. I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer is available for rental and purchase on YouTube, Amazon Prime, AppleTV+, Google Play Movies, and a bunch of other places. It’s thoroughly enjoyable, and also there’s a llama in it, and I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Aaron Barrocas is an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and editor living in Los Angeles. He has spent the past 25 years as an active part of the entertainment industry. AaronBarrocas.com