“The Counselor: A Screenplay”, Cormac McCarthy

Photo courtesy of Pan Macmillan

It’s been a few years since I read a screenplay. It’s obvious from the first page this was written for the screen.

The Counselor is classic McCarthy with his magnificent spartan use of language and ability to take his reader into the heart of every scene.

While I enjoyed reading McCarthy’s narrative and frugal but a times brutal dialogue, the story didn’t grab me. I think I’ll enjoy the story more when I see the visual representation of it on the screen. The story moves at great pace skipping from one scene to another then to another very quickly which I believe will be better portrayed on screen. There’s a wonderful cast assembled for the movie making it even more appealing. How the director captures the fear and tension that pervades the screenplay will be particularly interesting.

As with many McCarthy works there are some severe violent episodes that I actually found a little distracting but I expect is necessary to demonstrate the destructive essence of the drug trade.

This is one that is perhaps better to watch than to read.