Based on a recommend from @flmfrkcentral, watched Irving Lerner's MURDER BY CONTRACT (1958) - the film Martin Scorsese identified as the most influential on his own work - to find a singular, unique portrait of a sociopath. Vince Edwards plays Claude, a man so deeply disordered

and alien that an interesting film to pair this with would be THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. He's saving up for a house because I think that's what he thinks human beings are supposed to do - and in that pursuit, decides to be a contract killer. He develops a cold existential

rationale for this and then a series of rituals and protocols around murder that seem to be some kind of emotional cosplay. When he gets restless, he exercises. Lerner shoots it all in a stark minimalism. Edwards never raises his voice. He doesn't like to kill women because he

can't predict what they're going to do, he says. MURDER BY CONTRACT is frankly incredible: a dry run for TAXI DRIVER (and spiritual cousin to THE AMERICAN) that surpasses it in many ways. Astounding.