Cinema critique essay series“DOCUMENTARY FILM SEASON ESSAYS”COMEDY

How do we counter the unbearable weight of being? Through comedy. And here are some examples of this genre.

"Makeup. Artist" by Jafa Najafi. Documentary comedy in the traditional Iranian picaresque genre. A young happy family lives in a mountain village, but the fact is that before the wedding, the groom promised the bride that after the wedding she would be able to get an education. He lied. And she believed him, but now there is a child, and a herd of sheep… So the wife is staying at home and doing housework. The wife jokes with her husband, but admits to the documentary director while being filmed that she has already enrolled in a make-up artist's course. And she will become a makeup artist no matter what. The husband throws a fit. And now what? So a young wife needs to find a second wife to her husband, who could be a good mother to her three-year-old son, not to mention good caretaker to the sheep and friend to her husband. And the search begins among suitable candidates and all sorts of funny developments ensue, which are hilarious on the outside, but rather creepy from inside (gender equality here is not a popular concept).

"The Table Is Set!" is Scott Gawick's comedy about contests among people obsessed with festive table-setting. It takes place in California, where “dreams come true”. We observe Olympic games for designers of table settings. The participants, who describe and show their masterpieces, are the true characters of situation comedy. They're addicted to perfecting napkins, forks, glasses… They come up with ideas for table decorations -- whether it's hunting in South Africa or the life of orchids. They're crazy in their own way, and they're prescient in their own way. They envy and forgive each other. Secretly, some of them seem to dream of traveling back in time to meet those who served Charles the Great, during whose reign the traditions of Antiquity of turning meals into performances were revived – away from treating meals just as ways to satisfy hunger. Bravo!

So we continue to follow the comedy genre.