CERT: 18 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (AMAZON PRIME)
Jagshemash!
When you find yourself checking how much time is left on a movie, generally that is down to the film dragging, or becoming tedious. However at around 30 minutes (or 34 to be exact) through Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (or to give it its wonderful full title, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) we had to pause for a moment. Not because of boredom but because we couldn’t believe that at just a third of the way through, our jaw had already hit the floor numerous times. Nor that in such a short period, the film was already loaded with outrageous, memorable and side-splitting moments. If only we knew what was coming after that because all bets were off.
It was mere weeks ago we found out that the secretly filmed Borat 2 (which is the title we’ll stick with for the sake of the word count) was complete and heading to Amazon Prime. Naturally, we all hoped for a worthy follow up to the hit 2006 comedy classic but feared the law of diminishing returns. Well, remarkably, this film not only manages to match its predecessor but for some it might even surpass it. Very Niiice!
The film sees former reporter Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) serving hard time in the gulag at the behest of the Kazakhstan government, due to him bringing great shame on the nation with his documentary film 14 years prior. However, in an attempt to create a dialogue with the powerful Trump administration, the Kazakh government gives Borat a chance at redemption, by sending him back to the USA with a prestigious gift for Vice President Mike Pence, that he can pass on to “magnificent new premier McDonald Trump”.
Cohen knows his formula but in this follow-up he tweaks it, to allow for more story and character development (not to mention an ingenious twist), as the skits roll neatly into the story, as opposed to the plot just lassoing the pranks and sequences together. This blending of the real with a narrative approach broadens what can be achieved in the mockumentary-style format. And some of the film’s on the fly writing has not only allowed for a comment on COVID and numerous other intense social and modern issues, but has integrated them all powerfully and hilariously into the plot. The results are a funny, frightening and a rather poignant story of progression and importance.
Even before the unsurprisingly much-publicised dynamite finish, you are shaken by the film’s reflection of a largely insane America (thankfully dotted with a couple of more hopeful people), as the risk-filled and shocking scenes involve an increasingly unbelievable speech invasion, a mental rally and one of the most memorable dance sequences in recent memory (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg).
Politically charged and henceforth sure to be divisive, in The Great Dictator fashion, Cohen tackles the modern climate alongside a motivated and driven team, that includes seven other screenwriters and director Jason Woliner. If the first film shook the States, then Bruno went for its eyes, Who is America for its throat and Borat 2 slashes that throat open, letting the red white and blue blood run graphically for all to see and gasp at. While somehow still wiping the tears of hysterical laughter away.
With his crazy and dangerous level of dedication (at one point going 5 straight days in character), Cohen once again rocks the lead role as Borat (who is often in disguise himself). While Maria Bakalova as Borat’s teenage daughter Tutar is a revelation, and the film allows her to be the possible next generation of Cohen inspired comedian, a brave and daring performer placing herself in the thick of it too (sometimes in scenarios Cohen could not possibly go), and in the process making some fiercely funny and compelling points!
Cohen was reportedly determined to get the film out in the midst of the presidential election (hence the final call for change) and Borat’s return could not be any more timely and yet, despite the film’s of the moment nature, scarily, this comedy feels like it will remain relevant for many decades to come.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a satirical masterwork, which grafts the real life madness and shock of the world, with a narrative of warmth, depth and wit, creating a rib-tickling tour de force, that must be called one of the greatest comedy sequels ever made.
Chenqui!
