Killer of Sheep (1978)

Good films need not change the world. Their objective can be as basic as providing simple entertainment by telling a simple story about a simple character. But good film, practically by definition, requires the combination of two key things: a good story and good visuals. Charles Burnett’s 1978 feature, Killer of Sheep, has neither.

The story of a depressed butcher named Stan (Henry G. Sanders) was made while Burnett was still in film school at UCLA, and it is immediately apparent that this film is not a piece of professional work. It teems with transitory, single-shot scenes of children playing in the streets, but these are without any relevance. My best guess is that Burnett’s intention was to augment the rough nature of the neighborhood his characters live in, but he didn’t need to prove it between every scene of actual content. Or, at least, what appears to be content compared to the pointless transition shots, as Killer of Sheep’s narrative doesn’t have much of an arc.

Stan and his family are introduced as unhappy people in an unhappy environment, and the film ends on the same note. By the close of the film, Stan’s outlook on life seems a little brighter, yet there has been no discernible event to cause this abrupt change in mood. Nothing about him has inherently changed, and the viewer doubts whether his life has been substantially improved. Although Stan’s attitude has been temporarily uplifted, the audience finds themselves depressed – if only because they wasted an hour and a half of their life watching this insipid film.

The technical aspects of Killer of Sheep do not compensate for its sub-par storyline. Shots are composed in awkward, sloppy ways, sometimes cutting off the top of actors’ heads and sometimes giving them far too much headroom. Several shots are noticeably out of focus, and camera movement is rare and unexciting. Perhaps these things are a visual interpretation of how boring and unfulfilling Stan’s life has become, but there is simply never an excuse for bad cinematography. Even worse is the sound design: characters speak so softly that it’s hard to decipher what they’re saying. This makes the film confusing and frustrating, especially when new characters are introduced. I had no idea who these people were, why they were there, or what relationship they had with Stan.

Although not enough to redeem it, the film possesses a few nice touches. The music is great, and a testament to a large budget (for a student film), since Burnett must have spent a lot of money procuring rights to songs performed by artists including Louis Armstrong and Earth Wind & Fire. I was also touched by one specific image of a sheep nuzzling against its mate; a seemingly extraneous shot unless taken in the context of Stan’s relationship with his wife (Kaycee Moore). She tries over and over again to captivate him and reignite some spark of romance, but Stan remains unresponsive, just like the sheep.

Killer of Sheep neither provides entertainment nor does it shine light upon important social issues. It is truly amazing that this film has received any reputation beyond that of a student film, and a disappointing one at that.