Death at a Funeral
(15th June - State Theatre)
What happens when a patriarch dies and the funeral goes to pieces? Daniel is the deceased's eldest son trying to conduct a dignified funeral for his late father. He is overshadowed, however, by his younger brother Robert, a successful writer who has just flown in from New York. As he rehearses his father's eulogy to idle chatter about his brother being a better writer, he finds that he has far greater things to contend with including his cousin's hallucinating fiance and a mysterious midget who wants a cut of the will.
Death at a Funeral is a very British film with very British humour involving a blend of physical humour with wry one-liners. I say 'very British' to mean that the whole script is outlandish but somehow understated. Well-cast characters make this a worthwhile indie film and a definite affection for the characters was the film's overall strength.
As with most British comedies, it all goes to hell before it comes back again. The film is well-played by all with an excellent sense of timing. The slapstick threatens to go a bit far, but director Frank Oz reins it in with a deft hand and the story arcs finish with satisfactory, though far from neat, closure.
Film rating: 8/10
Enjoyment rating: 8/10
Teeth
(17th June - State Theatre)
Dawn is an attractive teenage girl who has pledged to abstain from sex until marriage. When a new boy, Tobey, captures her heart, resistance becomes more and more difficult until Dawn discovers a secret weapon. Teeth. But not in her mouth. When sex meets nuclear mutation, the results can be bloody for some.
Teeth is exceptionally well-made and well-edited. Every moment serves an ultimate purpose and no thread is wasted in the tight 87-minute frame. The most admirable part is writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein's perfect balance between the comedy and horror genres - difficult to achieve but he makes it look easy in this film.
The horror initially comes from Dawn's gruesome discovery of her secret weapon, which involves a fair amount of blood and a lot of screaming. Thereafter, however, the audience develops that uncomfortable foreknowledge of what could happen scene by scene in each subsequent encounter. This impending discomfort is exactly the kind of feeling for which this genre should aim.
The comedy is pitch black. Lichtenstein has a go at the cultish abstinence group, the inadequate sex education at school, oversexed teenagers and Dawn's weird stepbrother Brad. It's absolutely awesome that you can have a hearty laugh at the expense of all these groups when there's blood everywhere else and a lot of squirming men. I highly recommend this film if you want to see a well-balanced horror/comedy.
Film rating: 9/10
Enjoyment rating: 9/10
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