Panic

This is a fun little black comedy.  The usual overbearing grandfather wants his grandson to carry on the family business, but the father wants his son to have a better career than hired killer.

A few brutal scenes, but overall a decent, not too sappy comedy.  I enjoyed it and would recommend it with an M rating.

C'est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog)

Award winning, highly acclaimed, much talked about, and I can see why.

If you feel like seeing a movie with some interesting poems, discussions on architecture, cinema and relocation of communities for low income housing projects then this film is for you, a biting politico-socio satire.  HOWEVER, there is another side to this fly on the wall mockumentary, the person we are observing happens to be a serial killer.

This film is about 20 years old, but shot in B&W entirely hand held camera work.  The photography is very good, as is the editing, and acting.  Technically this is a fantastic film. The obsidian black humor is at times painful to endure, everytime we have respite and humor it is tightly coupled with brutality.

How did I stay the distance?  Since I've been contemplating whether I should watch this film since it was new, I decided I had to tough it out.  Definitely K rated, not for the feint of heart.

Four Lions

I'd been curious about this British black comedy since I saw the trailers at the Cinema last October, and now it's on Netflix streaming I was able to watch it over the weekend.

This film lived up to all the expectations of a UK indie with backing from Film 4.  The subject matter may be distasteful to some, a comedy about a group of young Muslims who try to do something big for the cause.  I part wish that it was an unspecified cause the were fighting for, as I believe the film explores any extremist and how the think.  The characters are human enough, and some of the likable enough, just "misguided".

One thing I liked was the deadpan delivery of everything.  At times the hand held camera look gave it the feel of a fly on the wall documentary.  The humour was mostly verbal, but sometimes physical, which is my preference anyway.

Not a must watch, but if you were on the fence, then go ahead and give it a try.

Mary and Max

This is a wonderful full length animation. Set in Australia and New York, its a simple romance story of a young girl and her pen pal. Her pen pal is older, and sees the world from a very different perspective. It's later revealed that he is an Aspie.

The coloration of the film is wonderful. Mary is lacking in confidence, has a pill popping mother who is fighting or rather falling victim to depression. Marys world is the scorched sepia tones one could almost associate with dry grass of eternal summers. Max's world is black and white and scarlet. The only color being in the lipstick of the woman who has a crush on him, and a pompom Mary makes for him.

The coloring is well in keeping with the locations and the characters moods. No this is not a depressing movie.

The two lead characters develop a natural relationship, managing to irk each other periodically, but having the strength of friendship to see it through.

Though Max is almost stereotypical for an Aspie, we have to forgive the creators this, as he is a plainly stated, clear to understand representation, he is a starting point, much as in Rain Man where the world was introduced to "classical" autism.

The mix of gross out humour and a loving coming of age story blend together into a well constructed film. Go ahead and see this one soon.

Sunshine Cleaning

I know, it's not fair to post a review of a film I only half watched, but this one I think I had its measure before too long.

The story should be funny enough, single mom changes maid service business into crime scene/biohazard cleanup service for a lot higher rate of pay.

Amy Adams (Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day) is a vivacious actress, reminiscent of a young Nicole Kidman and a capable actress. Emily Blunt plays her dysfunctional sister. It's a comedy, you need dysfunctional siblings for that.

Despite getting to see Amy in her underwear often, the jokes are handled poorly. Another part of the story is how Amys son is getting in trouble at school, and she is told that he needs to be medicated to stay in mainstream schooling. Here we have enough poorly researched writing, based on 80's tabloid tittle tattle rather than fact, that I just gave up.

Who knows it may have picked up later, but.