This is the movie made by the folks behind The State from MTV. Most of them appear.
Also stars Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Mark Ruffalo and Elizabeth Banks (the blonde girl, the one that is NOT married to Judd Apatow that’s in those movies.)
So at the time unknowns but now I’d argue that they are much more relevant and popular than Garafalo and Pierce to today’s comedy.
“Giants and Toys” is a Japanese business comedy from the late 50s about rival candy company ad execs. I was surprised by how honestly ahead of its time and how hilarious it was. Felt more like one of those American 80s business comedies.
I remember being very impressed with Music Of Chance, starring Mandy Patinkin and James Spader.
My usual recommendation in this sort of thread is Swimming With Sharks, which gets even better when you know the backstory of why it was made.
Mikro eglima (Small Crime), an independent Greek film. It’s charming, funny and quirky. A feckless (but likable) cop on a tiny Greek island discovers a dead local on a stony beach. Did somebody kill him? Is it connected with City Fathers who want to build an amusement park (to lure scarce tourist dollars) on the spot where his house is inconveniently located? Who is that incredibly smokin’ hot gal who lives uphill from the scene of the crime? And why does the corpse have a silly-assed grin on its face? This is the kind of movie Woody Allen used to try to make.
I remember ads for this movie when I was a kid. Afterwards, when I saw thumbnails of the Led Zeppelin I album cover in record club or magazine ads, I thought it was the soundtrack for this movie.
Damn - I was going to mention that! You forgot to point out that it’s basically live-action Dr Seuss.
Yes, but have you seen Orgasmo by the same pair? A young naive Mormon takes a job in the porn industry. Supremely silly.
If you like your humor a bit darker, try Kontroll, set in the Budapest subway system. Ostensibly about a ticket inspector menaced by a serial killer, the serial killer plot is minimal: mostly it’s about the losers who work as inspectors on the Metro.
A supremely well-acted, honest, unflinching, heart-breaking, disturbing movie about mental illness and obsession. I watched it because I love Damien Lewis, and it was worth it because it’s so well done, but it was actually a very difficult movie.
The White Diamond. It’s a documentary about an aeronautical engineer leading an expedition into the rainforest to take pictures of a waterfall from a small blimp he designed. Doesn’t sound interesting, but it’s the most brilliant source of odd humour the world has ever known.
I would love to see it* on the big screen. Such florid colors! And big speakers for the soundtrack.
Kevin Smith’s death was indeed a great loss…
- Desperate Remedies; I hate it when answers don’t include the subject of the post being answered.
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Erdosain writes:
> Also recommended (although not available in the U.S.) is Hombre mirando al
> sudeste. An inmate in an insane asylum insists he is an alien as his psychologist
> attempts to prove otherwise.
It was shown in English-speaking countries. (For that matter, its world premiere was at the Toronto Film Festival.) It’s called Man Facing Southeast in English. It’s only currently available in used VHS. I own a copy.
Barbara An historical drama whose main selling point really is the amazing scenery. The plot is a strange sort of not-quite-love story.
Kautokeino-opprøret (“The Kautokeino Rebellion”) Dramatization of one of the more shameful spots on norwegian history: mishandling of religious matters among the indiginous northern population leads to a bloody end.
Kill Your Darlings Easily one of the weirdest things ever on screen, it’s worth it just for Alexander Skarsgård playing a suicidal dutch transvestite.
A middle aged woman dying of cancer gathers her family around her in her last two weeks of life. Sad, funny and very cliche-resistant. The imdb synopsis says “feel good film meets black comedy”, which is about right.
I can wholeheartedly recommend these two. I love Mr. Vampire. I must buy it on DVD, I have a copy taped from the telly.
This one is excellent. It’s popular enough on dvd here. I wish the sound were better though.
Guest House Paradiso. It’s a surreal black comedy starring Simon Pegg and Vincent Cassel. The ending is so weird and random and over the top that it can’t not be funny!
BOOK OF LIFE, directed by Hal Hartley, starring Martin Donovan & PJ Harvey.
Jesus (MD) & His secretary Mary Magdalene (PJH) land in a plane on Dec 31, 1999 at JFK Airport. Jesus gets the Laptop Book of Life and starts opening the Seven Files, including the list of 144,000 Remnant who will survive the Apocalypse. Satan (Thomas Jay Ryan) wants to get the Laptop himself so he can run the show. Along the way, Jesus & MM and Satan make human friends and they all have second thoughts about bringing in the Apocalypse.
Still only available only on VHS, with one seller on amazon at $2 and another at $40. I’ve not seen it since my friend “borrowed” it, and never gave it back. That was 15 years ago.
Its Timothy Dalton and Anthony Edwards as two patients dying of cancer. No, wait… Its not Steel Magnolias, its about struggling to enjoy yourself and have fun with serious illness, and it is good fun.
Oh… Just found it on the torrents. Now why don’t they have St Elsewhere on there?
The Ritchie Boys.
Excellent documentary focusing on three young German immigrants who were part on an elite counter-intelligence unit in WWII. Especially relevant today, with all the talk of “Enhanced Interrogation.”
August Underground and August Underground: Mordum. They’re both “simulated snuff” films, in that they appear to be video shot by a demented serial killer and his buddies as they go about their criminal activities. The special effects are well done, beyond the point of queasiness. Generally, Mordum is considered to be the most stomach-turning movie ever made, an endurance test for the staunchest horror fans. Both movies were made by a very small company called Toe Tag Films, so the distribution has been pretty limited.