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A Film With Me In It (DVD)
Year: 2009
Rating: M
Director: Ian Fitzgibbon
Cast: Keith Allen, Mark Doherty, Amy Huberman, Dylan Moran, David O'Doherty
Distributor: Beyond
The Film: 3.5
The Disc: 3.0
It's not always easy to find the comedy in death, but the best of the black comedies have always managed to do it. A Film With Me In It certainly finds the funny in the demise of several characters, although the humour mostly resides in the surviving characters, Mark (Mark Doherty) and Pierce (Dylan Moran)'s reactions to the deaths of all of their housemates. Mark is a struggling actor living with his paraplegic brother and ex-girlfriend in a dilapidated house. His best friend Pierce is an alcoholic gambler whose presence often proves itself more hindrance than help. The chaos begins with the death of the dog, followed in quick succession by the accidental deaths of Mark's brother, landlord and ex-girlfriend. Throw a policewoman into the mix, and there lies the list of deceased cast members.
Irishman Dylan Moran's particular style of comedy (most famously espoused on the cult comedy series Black Books, as well as throughout a highly successful career as a stand up comedian) perfectly suits the events of the film, which call for an atypical personality to deal with the grisly fluke deaths of four people and, combined with Mark Doherty's more deadpan style, their solution to the problem becomes ever more hilarious. It's almost as if though, with a film of this nature, that the laughs need to be stifled in the face of such subject matter.
"We do a very good kind of dark in Ireland," says Dylan Moran in a Q&A at Melbourne's Cinema Nova included here as a special DVD feature, and it's a statement very true of both the style of comedy in the film, as well as the general lighting concept of the Q&A itself. It's an interesting feature to add, as it was clearly shot with a small camera and is badly edited. That said, it certainly reveals a lot about Moran's involvement in the film, and allows him to let loose with his stand-up skills. Other features include a comprehensive making-of, which shows off the very limited budget, and reveals that the flat in the film is actually Mark's own abode. Despite the money restrictions, however, this is an excellent example of Irish comedy and skilful storytelling.