Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on October 15, 2006 at 15:15:50

from 1999 and immediately proceded his "Brigands...," which I found entertaining, original, and a superb satire.
This film follows the adventures of a young filthy rich Parisian lad who, for some reason, works as a dishwasher but also helps thieves steal from, in one instance, a very old woman.
Iosseliani also reprises a drunken bum character from his previous film and gives him much screen time (if you're in a scene at all, you'll get a lot of time: this director moves glacially), unfortunately.
There also is an African character who absorbs much physical and verbal abuse at the hands of his brutal employer but takes it all very much as blacks would in "the old days" and never utters a complaint. He even meekly takes his firing, though he is a foot taller and 100-lbs. heavier than the man who slaps him around.
All of this aside, the film is curious enough to hold one's attention but, no, I cannot recommend it to most viewers.
I must add that a director who seems to think there is something praiseworthy about bums sitting around all day with no purpose except to drink is a joke which went out of style in the West somewhere in the 40s.