The Comedian (15) 82 mins ***
This low-key character
study from debutant Tom Shkolnik proves quietly impressive in its ruminations
on latter-day London identity. In office hours, Ed (Edward Hogg) is a
softly-spoken thirtysomething flunking a sales job; by night, he becomes what
Judd Apatow’s Funny People euphemistically defined as a “high-energy” amateur
stand-up, raising the volume to compensate for the flatness of his material. Offstage,
Ed’s dithering between his French bedmate Elisa (Elisa Lasowski) and Nathan
(Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), the charming artist who just wants him to commit.
It’s small and scratchy, necessarily circumscribed – like Jamie Thraves’ not
dissimilar The Low Down – by its protagonist’s indecision, but a brace of
electric, sharply observed encounters on nightbuses contribute to an air of
something lived through: Shkolnik knows what it is to be shrugging along in the
city, with not enough money in your pocket, and no idea what to do with
yourself.
The Comedian is in selected cinemas.
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