Unfriending
You’ve heard of an intervention. But, have you heard of a “life intervention”? I hope you haven’t. If you have, I sure hope it wasn’t under the guidance of a similar core clique as seen in Unfriending.
Dark Comedy
Retrograde
The intentions of Retrograde are tough to pin down and, if the viewer likes the movie, the Canadian indie is even more difficult to recommend because of how persistently obnoxious it is. I should know because I belong in this camp, and I’m going to do my damndest to explain why I think Adrian Murray’s movie is a brilliant comedy.
Triangle of Sadness
Triangle of Sadness pitches itself as a sophisticated comedy with “biting” satire about elitist attitudes during class wars. However, the jabs made by writer/director Ruben Östlund are nothing more than the filmmaker taking swings at low-hanging fruit for a ridiculously long runtime; intercut occasionally by tired attempts to be outrageous to offset an arthouse reputation.
TIFF 2022: ‘Triangle of Sadness’
Triangle of Sadness pitches itself as a sophisticated comedy with “biting” satire about elitist attitudes during class wars. However, the jabs made by writer/director Ruben Östlund are nothing more than the filmmaker taking hackneyed swings at low-hanging fruit for a really, really long time.
Funny Pages
As rude and unappealing Funny Pages can be, it’s a brutally honest and funny character study of a young artist who channels trauma and grief into his aspirations to be a successful cartoonist. A true tale of an unlikely opportunist.
The Good Boss
The Good Boss offers a mannered approach to the self-destructive character study; separating it from similar company pitched in a much more frantic, anxiety-inducing tone (Nose to Tail, Uncut Gems).
I Love My Dad
At the root of a dark comedy is sadness. Some examples may take more effort to trace back to that forlorn emotion, but the premise usually begins with an unfortunate circumstance and then carried beyond the point of comfort or absurdism; ideally to create humour. It’s all about finding amusing, and sometimes inappropriate, ways of interpreting that sadness. And, I Love My Dad is successful most of the time.
Vengeance
By: Jeff Ching Despite the title, Vengeance is really not a revenge movie (though revenge is part of the plot), and it’s especially not an action movie. Actually, it’s much better and smarter than what you’d expect. It’s a very ambitious film that attempts many things: it’s a fish-out-of-water comedy with a dark sense of humour, a murder mystery, it’s satirical, it’s philosophical. The movie has a lot to say about the current state of America…
Honor Society
From Awesomeness Films (You Get Me, Spontaneous, Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series) comes Honor Society, a teen movie that’s darker than expected. Considering how annoying the film’s smug trailer was, I appreciated this unexpected edgier approach. However, the execution is imperfect and isn’t nearly as measured as it should be.
Apples
Produced and completed during our current era of COVID, Apples is a strange and accidentally timely import from Greece, following a vacant mind (Aris Servetalis) during the early stages of a pandemic that’s quietly sweeping over the public. Victims who are affected by the unknown sickness lose their memory at the drop of a hat. Those who don’t have any immediate support are referred to a rehabilitation program for the unidentifiable where they must complete…