I seem to finally be in the groove of this, since it took me forever to find decent wi-fi this year. Thankfully, Starbucks has been very, very good to me. Now, on with the reviews:
A Film with Me In It (Ian Fitzgibbon) - 7/10
Good black comedy is extremely hard to get right--see Edison & Leo in the previous post--but this one is an exception. On occasion, the film's dark sensibility threatens to overwhelm its funny side, but the filmmakers somehow keep the balance straight. They're greatly helped by the two leads, Mark Doherty (who also wrote the film) and Dylan Moran, whose contrasting reactions to the increasingly absurd situation ground the film. Good nasty fun...
Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain) - 8/10
The story--about a man whose attempts to win a Tony Manero look-alike contest grow increasingly disturbing--could almost be the basis for the next Will Farrell film, all slicked-back hair and bad seventies fashion. It almost sounds fun. Transfer that story to late seventies Chile, however, and it becomes something entirely different--a bleak, mean dissertation on the soul-destroying effects of American pop culture. More later...
Detroit Metal City (Toshio Lee) - 5/10
I generally prefer my comedies more deadpan than wacky, so I may not be the target audience for this mugging, flailing comedy of extremes. Still a lot of fun at times, especially when it ventures into more absurd territory (nothing made me laugh harder than the "Metal Buffalo" bit).
Tomorrow: Horror day with Finnish ghosts, creepy children, linguistic nightmares and necrophilia. Fun, fun, fun!
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2 comments:
You liked Tony Manero?! Were you the one guy clapping at the end? Oh wait, no one was clapping. What a horrible Travis Bickle-lite piece of crap that was.
Yeah, I actually liked it. I could feel the hate flowing in that theater, but I have to say I was taken by the film's singular mindset. Definitely not one to appeal to everyone, I suppose (see also: VINYAN).
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