Just found out about a new film called “The Living Wake.” It looks like an intriguing take on living and dying from the trailer. I’m a big fan of the idea of a memorial service while you’re still alive to share thoughts and feelings with your family.
Here’s the official description of the movie:
“The Living Wake” is a dark comedy set in a timeless storybook universe. Self-proclaimed artist and genius, K. Roth Binew, has one day to live. He has enlisted his best and only friend, Mills Joquin, to take him around on a bicycle powered rickshaw. In a final attempt to probe life’s deepest mysteries, Binew endures one ridiculous trial after the next. He concludes his day with a final performance, his living wake. On a makeshift stage in an open field, Binew’s friends and enemies gather to witness his madness one final time.
Now available on DVD and through Netflix and Hulu, here are some early reviews of the film:
“Set inside the daft world of its eccentric hero, “The Living Wake” could be termed anything from a black comedy to an absurdist/existentialist literary tale. In the end, however, pic defies all categorization, joining a small pantheon of pics including “Withnail & I” and Peter Greenaway’s “Drowning by Numbers” that whistle past the graveyard with aplomb. Marking a stunning feature debut by lead actor and co-writer Mike O’Connell, pic is certain to set tongues wagging at fests and looks primed to do well in theatrical niches and tony ancillary havens.”
-Variety by Robert Koehler
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933902.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
“If the members of Monty Python scripted an adaptation of Don Quixote and Guy Maddin directed it, it might look something like first-time director Sol Tryon’s willfully absurd tragicomedy…played with euphoric abandon by stand-up comic Mike O’Connell…”
-LA Weekly by Scott Foundas
http://www.laweekly.com/film+tv/film/afi-the-rest-ofthe-fest/17640/
The film’s website is www.TheLivingWake.com.