If you are looking for a fun night out, you would be wise to steer clear of THE COMEDIAN, writer-director Tom Shkolnik’s London-set feature debut. Its hero is Ed (Edward Hogg), cold-caller by day, trying to flog cancer insurance to vulnerable women (‘if you get cancer, you could be given up to £30,000’), comedian by night (‘my dad is an Orange Nazi - loves the colour, likes the fruit, hates the juice.’ NB: try saying that aloud.) His flatmate is Elisa (Elisa Lasowski), a singer who does not appear to have a day job. She’s French, not much of a back story. Ed tries to set Lisa up with various guys. None of them takes. There’s also Juan, he’s Spanish. We don’t meet him. Ed is gay. One night, he shares billing with Nathan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), young (25), black, an artist. They chat on the bus. Ed goes back to his place. They make love. Then Ed tries to integrate Nathan into his life.
Scenes that follow may not be in this order: there is an uncomfortable bus ride where Nathan is subjected to homophobic abuse from teenage girls. Ed shares a double-date with Elisa that does not go so well; Ed feels alienated and runs away. He tries to make up with Nathan. It is short-lived. He has a really bad gig where his set dies. Ed’s boss tries to motivate him by getting him to go through the script; he criticises Ed’s commitment. Ed sprays a drink at his supervisor and is fired. Elisa has feelings for Ed; he kisses her, but she knows that they cannot have a romantic relationship. Instead, she wants him to move out. He travels to Sheffield, has dinner with his parents, tells them about losing his job and his flat, having to go on housing benefit. At no point do they suggest that he moves back. At no point does he tell them that his is gay. In the final scene, he is in the back of a cab – we don’t know where he is going – in conversation with a US born Zimbabwean taxi driver who married a girl for a visa. Not the ideal start. There is the suggestion that things might be all right but at this point any lonely Londoners watching might be tempted to slit their wrists.
As is common with such movies, I received an email a day after the screening asking what I thought. I reply: ‘Impressive but screenings should be accompanied by the Samaritans Help Line.’ Shkolnik shot the film using a DSLR camera on the streets of London, with two cameras but only one take per scene. Shooting was preceded by intense rehearsal in a disused warehouse in Shoreditch; well, it would have been funny in rehearsals took place in a functioning warehouse. ‘Where am I going to put this pallet?’ ‘If you just move those actors, I think we can fit it in there.’ There is very little incidental music. Moreover many of the scenes have blurred backgrounds, with the lead actor in tight focus. The effect, as in a horror film, is to make the character – and the audience – feel vulnerable. It certainly works.
Fundamentally, the film is about disconnectedness. Ed’s act has no relationship to his life (including his job). Ed and Nathan are attracted but don’t make a connection. Ed cannot wholly connect with his work. He does not connect with his parents by directly asking for help. He does not even tell Elisa that he has lost his job, which could have spared him losing his home. He can’t even tell his boss why the job makes him uncomfortable. There is a lot that is unspoken. A comedian is a metaphor for a deflector, someone who does not confront issues head on. The punch-lines have an air of unreality. ‘I was in Iraq as a waiter; I wasn’t shot, I was fired.’ It is clever word play that does not say anything. Edward Hogg had to write his own material and underwent a ten day comedy boot camp. He shouts, which is one way of doing it. Elisa Lasowski had to write her own songs. When she performs one, I felt Shkolnik kept the scene going too long, out of respect for her effort rather than for foregrounding its emotional content. Songs have to earn their place in a movie and directors do need to cut to show how they are received.
THE COMEDIAN is a film with a lot of pauses. I cannot imagine many scenes from it being played on the radio. The style is highly naturalistic, culled from ninety hours of footage. I suspect the director has material for two or three movies; his first cut was four hours, the final movie runs for 82 minutes. I wonder whether he can put out a sequel to cheer us up.
THE COMEDIAN opens in the UK on 31 May. Type ‘the Samaritans’ in your search engine for details of counselling services near you.
