Black Comedy

“Rough Night” Packs Comedy, Filth, and the Macabre into a Bachelorette

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Lucia Aniello’s Rough Night is what happens when you let five raucous friends cut loose during a destination bachelorette party in Miami.  All the normal accoutrements are here:  beachfront rental property, alcohol-fueled bar crawls, penis-shaped everythings, cocaine, a shredded male stripper, and involuntary manslaughter.  Hmm, maybe things got out of hand somewhere . . .

“Dr. Strangelove” and the Absurdity of the Politically Powerful

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A Year of Masterpieces: The Filmography of Stanley Kubrick Introduction Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a satirical masterpiece.  In this piece, we will discuss the germination of the great film and then detail how the director combines a serious camera (Part I), genuine but … Read more

Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita” – a Most Ambitious Fantasy

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The fourth entry in Plot and Theme’s year-long look at the filmography of Stanley Kubrick.  Check out all entries here. Introduction In 1962, Stanley Kubrick adapted the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita for his sixth feature film.  Though published only 7 years earlier, Nabokov’s novel was already reaching the status of a classic work due to … Read more

“Colossal”: Part Kaiju Flick, Part Exploration of Abuse and Recovery

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Writer-director Nacho Vigalondo is no stranger to off-the-wall storytelling; Los cronocrímenes (Timecrimes) may be the best film featuring time-travel ever.  In Colossal, Vigalonda tries his hand at a kaiju movie, but infuses it with his own style.  Vigalondo exploits the genre for allegory and dark comedy, crafting an inventive exploration of indulgence, regret, and self-destruction … Read more

Verhoeven and Huppert Combine to Tell a Singular Story of Feminine Strength in “Elle”

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Paul Verhoeven’s Elle opens with a blank screen and the sickening sounds of sexual assault.  The first image of the film is of a cat, casually witnessing the rape.  Only after this introduction does Verhoeven confront the audience with the actual struggle:  a man clad in dark clothing and a ski mask, dominating an older woman and having his way with her.  Once he is gone, we’re introduced to Michèle Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert) wordlessly; she picks herself up, straightens her clothing, cleans up some broken glass, and then takes a bath.  The blood floats up from between her legs to color the bubbles with a crimson wisp.

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“The Greasy Strangler” Descends into Depravity with the Ease of a Cult Classic

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The Greasy Strangler might be what it feels like to go mad.  The film is best described as a kind of John Waters fever dream (or maybe wet dream), that combines a penchant for bizarre sexuality with a tongue-in-cheek slasher film.  The acting is purposely hammy, and each kill more absurd than the last.  There are sequences that physically made me ill, and others that left me utterly befuddled. You can call it weird, disgusting, senseless, or even a fucking embarrassment of a film – but you can’t call it derivative or boring.

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Shane Black’s “The Nice Guys” is Neo-Noir Black Comedy at its Finest

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Fans of the crime comedy genre can rejoice, because we’ve been gifted a new masterpiece.  Shane Black’s The Nice Guys is a fun throwback that sports a fantastic mixture of neo-noir and black comedy.  Like the best examples of the genre, the story unfolds through a central mystery while multiple intriguing characters get roped into the proceedings.  Black’s sensibilities take full advantage of the chemistry between stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, and as a result the film compares favorably to similar movies like The Big Lebowski and Snatch.  Though it may fly under the radar during its theatrical release, it will likely find a cult following once people recognize its high quality and peculiar tone.

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“The Lobster”: A Sardonic Defense of Romantic Choice

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The very best satire establishes absurdity as commonplace, and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ first English-language feature film The Lobster is a fascinating example.  Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, this dark romantic comedy imagines a dystopia where single people are sent to a hotel and given 45 days to find a new partner.  Should they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into the wild.  Some attendees don’t wait that long, and escape into the bordering forest to live in a kind of fugitive singleness.  The Lobster viciously jests through this dichotomy, exploring the nature of relationships and how societal pressures can paradoxically be the cause of both settling and celibacy.

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