The socially awkward outsider who obsesses to achieve a warped sense of greatness–to an unhealthy (or even dangerous) degree–is a character type that looms large in cinema.
The template, of course, begins with Scorsese’s 1976 classic Taxi Driver. Though more recently, we can look to modern films centered around the discomfortingly dangerous loner that furthers this character type, too. Take Jake Gyllenhaal as a tabloid-crazed reporter in 2014’s Nightcrawler, or Miles Teller as a jazz-fixated drummer in 2014’s Whiplash. Both lose track of all sense of reality at the expense of their physical and mental well-being.
Clearly, the character of the unhinged and volatile workaholic speaks to a recurring type of person within our society (or, at least one that modern male directors just seem particularly drawn towards). Perhaps this type of person is the embodiment of the American persona on steroids.
The new movie Magazine Dreams delivers the latest of these unhinged male characters and quite literally puts him on performance-enhancing drugs – to terrifying effect. Written and directed by Elijah Bynum, Magazine Dreams tells the story of an amateur bodybuilder who pushes his body and psyche to the brink in the hopes of becoming a world-class champion.
Premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film shocked critics upon its release. To say the film is “intense” would be an understatement. It’s a full-blown assault on the senses that’s both physically and psychologically punishing. As the central character, Jonathan Majors hulks out here, bulking a body that is nearly unbelievable to see.
Killian Maddox (yes, “kill” and “mad” can both be found in this character’s name) lives a simple life. Bagging items at a local grocery while awkwardly flirting with the checkout girl (Haley Bennett), he lives with his father in a small-town suburb. He is also inhumanly jacked, working out non-stop in his garage. He surrounds himself with images of bodybuilders that paper his bedroom walls, the ultimate image of success.
Killian’s life goal is to one day attain the perfect body and become a world-champion bodybuilder. There’s just one thing he can’t control: his rage. So when local handymen scam his father, Killian erupts with anger (imagine Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love but built like a Greek God). Seeing red, Killian goes on a warpath. He demolishes the perpetuator’s storefront with his bare hands, an astonishing moment in the film that leaves him bloody and broken and the audience in awe.
This triggers Killian’s tragic descent into hell. Haunted by the fallout–and by those whose store he destroyed–Killian is left bruised, bloodied, and broken, and subsequently loses the ability to compete. But he’s still alive. And like the Terminator, Killian pushes through the pain, leaving no one safe from his personal warpath to inflict pain onto those who have wronged him.
Magazine Dreams is a tense, brutal, but beautifully made movie. The artful, lush cinematography by Adam Arkapaw certainly gives the film “dreamy” compositions that warp Killian’s reality. While Magazine Dreams is evocative and affecting, some of the writing holds it back from greatness. At just over 2 hours, the film runs too long (I hope 30 minutes are trimmed from its sprawling final act when it is officially distributed).
And then, there’s Killian as a character. Clearly, he’s mentally ill. He experiences migraines, and nightmares, and hears his absent mother’s voice in his head. He’s schizophrenic, making for a character whose origin story is more like the Joker than anything more realistic. Today’s internet age would accurately classify him as an incel. Someone who inflicts pain on society for their inability to relate with him.
There’s a chance that Magazine Dreams might be too disturbing to enter the larger mainstream conversation. However, Majors deserves recognition and praise for his astonishing feat here. Not just for his inhuman physical transformation (which, holy shit). But for the intensity and way in which he loses himself in this unhinged performance. It’s unnerving, punishing, and polarizing. But sometimes, that’s what it takes to achieve greatness.
2h 4m.
