Brad Pitt's NOLA-shot crime drama 'Killing Them Softly' freighted with political subtext

Quentin Tarantino's New Orleans-shot "Django Unchained" stole the show yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival. Today (May 22), it was Brad Pitt's turn, with his New Orleans-shot "Killing Them Softly."

Brad Pitt stars in the New Orleans-shot crime drama 'Killing Them Softly,' which shot last year under the working title 'Cogan's Trade' and which premiered today ( May 22) at the Cannes Film Festival.

Shot in town early last year under the title "Cogan's Trade," the Andrew Dominik-directed crime drama premiered at the festival today (May 22). The star power on display at the red-carpet event (see photo gallery below) was enough to get the excitement started-- but it wasn't the only story generated by the film.

Set in Chicago,"Killing Them Softly"is based on the 1974 novel by George V. Higgins and stars Pitt as a professional enforcer tasked with investigating the heist of a mob-sanctioned card game. But in updating the story, Dominik-- who penned the screenplay -- couldn't help but to freight it with political subtext. Specifically, he includes overt references to the 2008 financial crisis, which plays out as a backdrop to the story of small-time gangsters preying on each other on Boston's mean streets, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At one point, the movie-- set in 2008 -- references President Obama's hope-filled acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Although there are those who might see its inclusion as a jab at the president, Pitt said in meeting with the press at Cannes that he wants the film's use of Obama's words to be seen "not as a cynical look back at a statement of failure but as a real expression of hope."

The Times-Picayune Actor Brad Pitt arrives for the screening of Killing Them Softly at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) 'Killing Them Softly' premieres at Cannes gallery (18 photos)

"I was there that night in Chicago when Obama won," Pitt said. "It was an amazing night. People out in the street connected."

He continued: "I always feel that crime films are about capitalism, because it is a genre where it is perfectly acceptable for all the characters to be motivated by the desire for money. In some ways, the crime film is the most honest American film because it portrays Americans as I experience a lot of them, in Hollywood, as being very concerned with money."

When asked if he had a problem with the amount of violence in the film, Pitt-- who also produced-- offered an unqualified "no," according to New York Magazine's entertainment blog Vulture.

"We live in such a vio! lent wor ld. I certainly grew up hunting, which is a very violent act," Pitt said. "Have you ever had a hamburger? Have you seen how they butcher cows? It's barbaric, it's horrendous, it's very violent. This is the world we live in, so I see it as absolutely important to film. Is it how it's shot? Is it memorialized or aggrandized or romanticized in some way? That's a fair question, but I don't see a world without it."

All of that is fine and good, but there's still a simple question to ask: Is the movie any good? Here's a sampling of critics' initial reactions to "Killing Them Softly," which is scheduled for release this fall by The Weinstein Co.

The Guardian: Andrew Dominik's immensely gripping and brutal world of recession-hit criminals, starring Brad Pitt, is smart and nasty, with a political dimension, too

Moviefone: "Pitt is a joy to watch" in "Killing Them Softly"

First Showing: "This film can really be summed up in one word: brutal"

The Hollywood Reporter: "A tasty modern crime yarn with political overtones, Brad Pitt and an over-weaning sense of style."

Hitfix: "Stylish, strutting 'Killing Them Softly' too tough for subtext"

Variety: "A routine, even mundane crime story relayed in tones of world-weary fatigue, 'Killing Them Softly' deglams the mob movie to coolly distinctive if rarely pulse-quickening effect."