CERT: 15 / FORMAT: BLU-RAY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Such is the length and breadth of the history of film that the occasional masterpiece slips through the cracks, and Arrow Films have unearthed more than their fair share of hidden gems. But art is subjective, and one man’s masterpiece is another man’s headscratcher, and Arrow’s Blu Ray release of the 1985 dark comedy The Comic Is very much the latter.
Set in a near future where everything seems to have gone to shit – 2020, perhaps? – The Comic is the story of Sam Coex, a struggling stand-up comedian who will do whatever it takes to make it. The world Sam inhabits is strange, and threatening, bordering on the surreal, and the piece tries so hard to earn its artistic chops that you almost have to admire its audacity.
The stylistic choices made by the director, however, are not backed up by his script, not the performances of the cast, most of whom attack their scenes with an unspoken intent to reinvent the artform, regardless of whether the world is ready for it. This leaves The Comic looking like a ninety-minute pop video, and very much of its time, with the quality you’d expect from such a stretched endeavour.
With a less than perfect transfer, the end result leaves you wishing that, while Arrow can generally be relied upon to curate a catalogue of treasures, some things are better left buried. The Comic may trigger memories of tapes found at the local video shop after the Saturday rush, but it’s unlikely to find much of an appreciative audience outside of that tiny, tiny niche.
