Rhapsodies

This week selection I went back to science fiction. I wanted to do comedy. But since I mostly scraped the barrel for most of the obvious science fiction parities I needed to go deeper into the realm of satire. Going with something incredibly specific topic of transformation.

The first on my list,  was a comedy that’s been in just about every text book about Science Fiction Media,  The Bed Sitting Room. The Bed Sitting Room is a satire about the apocalypse. Four years ago, due to a “misunderstanding”, England, and presumably the rest of the world, has been destroyed in nuclear war.. Now what remains of human civilization wanders around a dumb trying desperately to maintain their dignity and their Britishness. We watch the stories of several people in their desperate, pointless and ridiculous effort to preserve their status quo and it would be tragic if you weren’t laughing so hard. Oh yes and some people were turning into bed sitting rooms. 

This was an entertaining who is who of British comedy in the 60s. Including Spike Milligan, Peter Cook, Arthur Lowe and many many more..  You could almost consider it the British equivalent of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, only far more cynical. However, there are wonderful performances from everyone. And it never allows you to take it too seriously. 

The next film on my list Yorgos Lanthimos’s, The Lobster, features another dark dystopian setting where single people are forced to go to the hotel to find a new companion. If they don’t find true companionship and 40 days they will be turned into an animal. But don’t worry, at least we get to choose what kind. 

When his wife leaves him for another woman, David (Colin Farrell) is sent to the hotel. He dreams of being a Lobster because they are long-lived and blue-blooded, like the aristocracy. At the hotel,  he and his companions are put through a regimented hell of watching propaganda performances, being punished for minor infractions and oh yes, they have to hunt single people hiding in the woods. 

The clock is ticking.

This is a dark stylized trippy film about the search for companionship (you really can’t call what even the successful couples get love) It’s one of those films that keeps you stuck in that weird place between laughter and tears…. But in a good way.