Hit Man
61st New York Film Festival
September 29 - October 15, 2023
Richard Linklater’s peppy sunlit neo-noir is a continually surprising delight. Glen Powell, in a wily and charismatic star turn, plays strait-laced philosophy professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as an undercover hit man for the New Orleans Police Department, inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless criminals hoping to bump off their enemies. Based on an improbable true story, with a few wild embellishments.
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Q&A with Richard Linklater on Oct. 3 & 4
In a wily and charismatic star turn, Glen Powell plays straight-laced philosophy professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as an undercover hit man for the New Orleans Police Department. Preternaturally gifted at inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless people hoping to bump off their enemies, Gary begins to descend into morally dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona)—setting off a chain reaction of play-acting and false selves. Richard Linklater’s peppy sunlit neo-noir—based on an improbable true story, with a few wild embellishments—is a continually surprising delight: co-written by Linklater and Powell, it’s a cleverly existential comedy about identity that deepens in meaning as it escalates in absurdity. A Netflix release.
Recommended Film Comment reading:
- The Film Comment Podcast: Richard Linklater & Ginger Sledge
- Lost in America: Richard Linklater (Interview)
- Rep Diary: Two by Richard Linklater
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