But every once in a while, there’s a film that packs its 65 minutes with ideas, explored fully yet obliquely– a film that makes you wish there was another half-hour to look forward to, yet leaves you feeling satisfied. One such film, peering a few decades back, was 1967’s The Firemen’s Ball, the delightful sociological comedy that is still one of Milos Forman’s best films. Another is Josh Bernhard’s The Lionshare....
I do not make this comparison lightly; to my mind, the two films have more in common than the slim running time. Both films are comedies that explore sociological phenomenon with a light but occasionally biting touch; both come at their respective subjects a little sideways, making points in such an oblique and organic way that they don’t feel like points at all, that they only register on a subconscious level– which ensures that the films will last beyond the current sociological climate, that they have things to say about life when their subjects have been regaled to relics.The comparison to Milos Forman’s The Fireman’s Ball is quite humbling. Read the whole review here, and check out more of their film criticism on twitter: @tomandmary.
