Killian takes working out very seriously and takes steroids to achieve the perfect body.
He has no friends, only his grandfather (Page) whom he takes care of.
Knowing this information, he still refuses to get treatment.
Jonathan Majors in ‘Magazine Dreams’Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Glen Wilson
His pursuit of winning his upcoming bodybuilding championship will come by any means necessary.
Even if that means ruining every relationship or dying in the process.
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Magazine Dreamsis a deeply unsettling character study of mania.
The audience is forced to watch every excruciating moment of an emotional breakdown thats depressing to witness.
Killian is so detached from reality, that his attempts to connect with it are met with disaster.
He gets beat down by the world, and bottles up his feelings.
Instead of expressing himself honestly, he takes it out on his environment and destroys everything in his wake.
Jonathan Majors is a revelation.
Its difficult to take your gaze off of him.
The character demands it and the audience will be transfixed by him.
Killian Maddox is the key in of characterization mostly reserved for White male actors.
The audience can see that for themselves.
The book follows a Black man as he navigates various factions of American society and fails.
It is this failure that causes him to retreat inward.
Would have been great ifMagazine Dreamswas more straightforward and cohesive as Ellisons book.
There are several moments when I thought the film was ending but it keeps going.
It is this treatment and invisibility that has turned him into a rage-filled pariah.
This doesnt always serve the narrative though.
There are no moments of levity in this film.
Its one crazy event after the other and its non-stop for 2-hours without balance.
Making it troublesome to connect with Killian on an emotional level.
Without Majors doing all the heavy liftingMagazine Dreams, I may not have sat through the entire movie.
