It’s not foolish to crack a smile and indulge in a deep belly laugh at humanity’s daftest foibles. In fact, the role of the court jester goes back as far as the records do, with the sensibility of silliness hardwired into our society.
In that spirit, it’s time to explore some stand-out selections from our . Black Bear
From her perma-scowling character on Parks and Recreation to her thorny relationship navigation in The White Lotus, Aubrey Plaza has specialised in nailing the darker side of comedy even when, especially in the former series, she’s surrounded by fluffiness. But director Lawrence Michael Levine’s cabin in the woods drama, meta-textually casting Plaza as a filmmaker borrowing the home of a pregnant couple (Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon) for a cursed shoot, takes it to the next level in a two-act puzzle box that messes with our expectations. Whose story is this, and who’s filming who? Are we the fools? Black Bear will be streaming on SBS On Demand from 1 April.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Player
Speaking of Shakespeare, the Bard has his fun character Feste offer this nugget of wisdom in Twelfth Night, “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.” It applies perfectly to Robert Altman’s biting Hollywood takedown movie that casts Tim Robbins as a merciless movie exec who relishes closing doors on aspiring writers. He winds up in a fix when he unintentionally offs Vincent D’Onofrio’s would-be player, only to wind up dating the dead guy’s girlfriend (Greta Scacchi) and evading the interest of a couple of detectives (Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett), This hot mess is only the half of a wickedly foolish caper with all of Altman’s trademark bite.
Charcoal
If you like your foolish behaviour on the spicier end, Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz’s searing social satire is hung on a very questionable proposition. What if you could lift your family out of poverty in an instant by sacrificing an ailing patriarch and taking in a surprisingly charming drug kingpin on the lam instead? Exaggerated as all jet-black comedies are, there’s truth to this desperate situation and the consequences of deploying a Faustian get-out-of-jail card that burns with an alarming truth in this spectacular debut feature. Charcoal will be available to stream on SBS On Demand from 29 March.
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Denise Richards in 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' Source: SBS / SBS Movies
Lucky Grandma
You do not mess with Chinese actor Tsai Chin, who has sparred with not one, but two James Bonds, in Sean Connery (You Only Live Twice) and Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) but saves maximum ‘suffer no fools’ energy for this leading role as a New York-based widow who heads to Atlantic City on a coach tour to spin her way to certain fortune via the roulette tables. When that doesn’t pan out, a bag of cash accidentally drops in her lap, nevertheless. The fact that it’s been misplaced by gangsters sets up a gleefully anarchic showdown with big baddies who, it turns out, are no match for one seriously cranky granny.
Everybody Hates Johan
Fools aren’t always the most popular person in the village. That’s certainly the case with the title character in this remote island-set Norwegian comedy that borrows beats from Johan (played by Paul-Ottar Haga as a kid then Pål Sverre Hagen) was raised by parents who were overzealous at detonating bridges, ostensibly to prevent never-spotted Nazis during WWII, but perhaps just because it’s a blast. One he indulges, even after their tragic demise, to unfortunate effect, marking him as an outsider in this wind-blasted wheeze. (Hurry it's leaving SBS On Demand 9 April)
Weekend at Bernie’s
Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser in 'Weekend at Bernie's' (1989) Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
