It's taken years to get off the ground, has undergone a name change - it is now known as Four Lions - and been largely abandoned as dead by all but its creators but brilliant and brutal British satirist Chris Morris (Brass Eye, Nathan Barley) has done what seemed impossible: he's got funding for his terrorism comedy and plans to begin shooting this summer.
To put it bluntly, get ready for public protest over this one because Morris pulls no punches whatsoever and given what territory he was willing to step in to with Brass Eye - the pedophilia episode of his mock news show is still notorious - I shudder (in a good way) to think what he'll attempt given the looser restrictions of feature film. Says Morris, "Most of us would dearly love to laugh in the face of our worst fears. Why aren't we laughing at terrorists? Because we don't know how to, until now."
Is it just me, or has there been a rather large amount of good film news coming out lately?
Been looking forward to this since forever ago. I admit that when it first came out I wondered if it would still be relevant if it was delayed too long, but time has proved that I needn’t have worried.
This is the best news I've heard all week. I still laugh my nuts off when I remember some of the barbs in the "Absolute Atrocity Special" newspaper supplement that Morris did with Armando Iannuci six months after 9/11. And then feel a bit guilty. Anyway, will be very interested to see how this one turns out (assuming that some other problem doesn't materialise to prevent it happening).
I can only assume from this that you've never seen any of Morris' work.
Oh, yes I have :
Case in point. The Day Today. Thing was, everybody else were funny performers in their own right in there. Except him.
Granted that most of the jokes were his The graphics thing is always clever. And some of its animosity is cool when it's inspired. Yet much of it tends to fall flat once his flat personality comes into play.It's one thing when that Sisters character is going about mucking up the bussiness section, and it's another when this guy suddenly berates her, like we're immediately suppose to laugh with him - or even at him. As if he's earned the audience trust enough for that to happen.
His whole schtick generally comes off to me as a mere glimpse into the mind of a conceited, snot-nosed fella with creepy issues. And Alan Patridge ( Steve Coogan ) owns that show anyways; so, it's not much of a surprise.
I mean, I like abrasive humour myself; and there are ways that which it can be done that is good. Which is why I think there is a fine line that separates the great insult comics like Don Rickles, or geniuses like Bill Hicks who are aces in telling people to go fuck themselves, and someone who simply tells people to go fuck themselves. But that's just me.
You combine his typically anal sense of humour, with the implied political myopia of painting ' Muslim terrorists ' as unprovoked anomaly, comparable to the Nazis ( w/c made Frank Miller look stupid; I don't think that would help him, either ), & it's much of what anyone could expect at this point, really.
To each his own, then. PErsonally I rank Morris just a little below Armando Iannucci, though I will say that I much prefer Brass Eye to The Day Today. TDT seems to me like more of a collission of styles with bits of Iannucci, Coogan and Morris in the mix. I like them all as individuals but it doesn't always mesh as well as I'd like. Brass Eye is the pure, unadulterated stuff.