We're all enjoying Half-Man. It's incredible. However, there seem to be a few people on here not as familiar with Jame Bell's game. And let me tell you, that man is a king of playing toxic relationships. This is not a filmography for the squeamish. So I therefore present a curated selection of deeply messed up Jamie Bell films and one miniseries. Your "joy" with them will very much vary. But I ultimately found all these watches rewarding in a "bleak week" kind of way.
Outlaw tries to convince a girl disguised as a boy to take the money and run. I do not understand why she doesn't. Sure he's deeply untrustworthy and has done many murders. But I'm sure he'd change with some money.
Oh he's terrifying and evil in this. No shades of grey in sight. A horrific attack has turned Elizabeth Moss' life into sci-fi nightmare. She needs to learn how to navigate her new literally fractured reality even as Jamie Bell carries out the same crime over and over. Also stars Wagner Moura as the pathetic man who is doing his best. [Miniseries]
Skin (2018) and Donnybrook (2018).
Proceed with caution here. I've grouped these into a duology as they both are about the relationship between poverty, toxic masculinity, and the rural U.S.. Flawed films, but both are trying to confront some very ugly truths about violence and desperation. Read the plot synopsis for both first. Skin interrogates what makes a white supremacist and what it would really take to unmake him. Donnybrook is just pure ID and a world where violence shapes society.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
I mean. This is by Lars von Trier. Bell's literally playing a sadist who the titular character, played by Charlotte Gainsborough, pays for his deeply fucked up services. He's mesmerizing in this. But, a deeply troubling movie with an ending I cannot endorse.
A very black comedy about some truly awful police officers in Scotland. This is really James McAvoy's fucked up movie. But Jamie Bell still gets in on the messed up action.
I mean. It's a sci-fi dystopia by Bong Joon-Ho. There is horror and messed up relationships for everyone!
Jamie Bell torments Cillian Murphy and Thandiwe Newtown on a remote Island. I keep saying I'm never watching this again. I've watched it three times.
I would like Richard Gadd to speak on this film. You cannot convince me he didn't watch this movie on repeat as a youth. Maybe not as bleak as the other entries on this list, but the central dynamic qualifies this for a list of movies about toxic relationships.
Adorable youth/creepy peeping Tom processes his mother's suicide in the most unhinged manner possible. Shout out to Sophia Myles who deserved a bigger career.
A young man discovers the body of his "best" friend who killed himself. And that's how this dark comedy/ meditation on suburban life and over medication kicks off. It gets weirder from there. Somehow one of the least bleak movies on this list.
The kids are not alright in this dark fairy tale about kids on the run from their nasty uncle. Check out baby Kristen Stewart.
