"After watching Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia and Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire within the span of a couple of days, it's hard not to feel like there's something in the air. Both films depict downtrodden men kidnapping wealthy executives, even though they have wildly different provenances: Bugonia is based on a 22-year-old Korean sci-fi thriller, and Dead Man's Wire is based on a real-life event that occurred in Indianapolis in 1977."
"To these two we can probably add Romain Gavras's Sacrifice, which I haven't seen yet, about a group of activists taking a group of wealthy people hostage; that one will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in a week or so. And who knows what other upcoming movies will ponder similar scenarios. (There are, one assumes, several Luigi Mangione biopics in the works.)"
"Dead Man's Wire sticks generally to the facts in its portrayal of Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), an aspiring businessman who one day in February 1977 walked into the offices of Meridian Mortgage and kidnapped his broker, Dick Hall (Dacre Montgomery), wrapping a wire attached to a shotgun around the man's neck. In front of policemen and news cameras, Tony walked Dick to his car and then drove with him, the cops following quietly behind, back to his apartment,"
Two recent films center on lower-status men abducting wealthy figures, each drawing from different sources: a 22-year-old Korean sci-fi thriller and a 1977 Indianapolis true-crime event. An additional film about activists taking wealthy hostages is set to premiere soon. Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire is his first theatrical feature in seven years and premieres out of competition at Venice, offering gritty 1970s atmosphere while implying contemporary relevance. The film follows Tony Kiritsis, who seized broker Dick Hall with a shotgun-wired rope, drove him back to his apartment and held him for days while demanding money, immunity, and an apology.
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