[QUOTE=NailBunny]
I’m curious about this comment - did Benigni make a bunch of glurgey movies?
[/QUOTE]
He made a “TAKE ME SEEEEEERIOUSLY I’M AN AAAAAARTIST” version of Pinocchio that’s about as unwatchable as anything in the last twenty years, and his latest movie is about a lovesick poet who gets mixed up, to painfully unfunny effect, in the Iraq war. It’s so bad it might be a career killer.
Re Francis Veber, his latest movie, The Valet, is pretty hysterical. Clever premise, great cast.
And for French comedies, OSS 177: Nest of Spies is a scream. Spot-on parody of 60’s-era glam spy adventures, combined with a subtle but biting critique of Western imperial ignorance. Highly recommended.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
He made a “TAKE ME SEEEEEERIOUSLY I’M AN AAAAAARTIST” version of Pinocchio that’s about as unwatchable as anything in the last twenty years,
[/QUOTE]
I was in Florence when that came out, and the Italians were really excited about it, expecting that it would be the next Life is Beautiful and get similar attention in the States. I tried to tell people, Disney already did Pinocchio, and when Disney does it it’s done.
There is a very funny (IMHO) French-Canadian comedy called “Seducing Dr. Lewis” (La Grande Séduction) that came out in 2004. It’s about a small island town that needs a doctor in order to allow for a factory to be built there (and thus provide jobs, esteem, etc.).
I was told it was the highest-ever grossing comedy in Quebec (sorry, no cite) and won the Audience Award (highest audience rating) at Sundance.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
I came in to mention this one. People forget that Roberto Benigni used to be a pretty good screen clown, before he got an inflated sense of himself as the Second Coming of Chaplin and started vomiting glurge onto the screen. Johnny Stecchino is almost nonstop hilarious.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I’ll give this a try. But Benigni makes me want to saw my own head off with a KFC spork, just to stop the pain. But I’ll try it.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
The currently-in-arthouse-circulation The Boss of It All, from cinematic bad boy Lars Von Trier, is pretty much a riot, also.
[/QUOTE]
Definitely on my list to see, of course.
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Torremolinos 73 is an Argentinian movie about a schmendrick who, almost by accident, starts making porno movies with his wife. The air goes out of the movie about twenty minutes before the end but it’s pretty funny until then.
[/QUOTE]
Check.
[QUOTE=Cervaise] The Lizard is an extremely funny movie from Iran about a petty criminal and escape artist who, after busting out of jail yet again, masquerades as a neighborhood imam while waiting for some forged paperwork. Made the Iranian government very unhappy and was banned. Will be hard to find but is very much worth a look, if for no other reason than to see just how innocuous a movie can be and still piss off Iran’s censors.
[/QUOTE]
Huh. Will try to seek out.
Wasabi is a comedy wrapped around an action movie. It’s more funny than not, and Jean Reno is hilarious. If you rent it, make sure you watch it with the subtitles rather than the dubbed version.
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
Ingmar Bergman had two funny comedies: Smiles of a Summer Night and Let’s Not Talk About All These Women. The latter is pure slapstick.
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Bergman’s The Devil’s Eye is actually quite hilarious as well.
Salmer fra kjøkkenet (Kitchen Stories)
Norway/Sweden 2003
IMDB Salmer fra kjøkkenet (2003) - IMDb
Reseacher observes from a high chair in a crotchety farmer’s kitchen. Relationships follow. Very touching, and side splittingly funny.
Allow me to recommend some Spanish movies by the Spanish director Berlanga from the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, two of them.
“Bienvenido Mr. Marshall!” (“Welcome, Mr. Marshall!”), from 1953. A sleepy little Castilian town in the middle of nowhere is suddenly seized by a tremendous bit of news: A delegation of Americans are going to come here, and obviously, if they are suitably impressed, they won’t fail to shower the village with their largesse, courtesy of the Marshall Plan! In order to do so, they even go all the way to transform their village into a 100% stereotypical Andalusian town, complete with flamenco and gypsies.
“El Verdugo” (“The Executioner”, or “Not on your life!”), from 1963. One of the best black comedies of Spanish cinema, EVER. Wikipedia explains the plot very well.
Funny, yes, but I still yell at the boyfriend five years later for getting me to watch it as “You’ll love it, it’s hilarious!” Because I cried and cried and cried and cried.