A valuable — if not widely enjoyable — film, The Comedy is a look into the life of an exceptionally numb human being. The film embraces the trappings of wandering indie movies, yet it does so with a decided vision. Tim Hiedecker plays what is ostensibly the prototypical “hipster,” in whatever sense that term means anything or is useful. More usefully this is a contemporary Camus story about a trust-fund 35-year-old with a cruel sense of humor and no notable purpose in life. While on the surface the film simply captures a sequence of uncomfortable scenes, on closer inspection it’s a pretty thorough (and disheartening) exploration of a character that many will find loathsome. For those that pick up on the subtleties of this guy’s particular kind of apathy and nihilism though, they may find something compelling in the casual cruelty.
–Renn Brown
The Comedy Detail:
Director(s): Rick Alverson
Screenwriter(s): Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary
Principal Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn
Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker) whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom. Desensitized and disenchanted, he strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution. A scathing look at the white male on the verge of collapse, Rick Alverson’s carefully observed portrait provokes and disorients; a cautionary fable for the autumn of the American Era.
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