Silly on celluloid

From tragicomic heroes to hellish roommates, an overview of the Just for Laughs Film Festival

The standout at this year’s Just for Laughs Film Festival is undoubtedly the strange-ass documentary Beauty Day, an odd little wonder about a little-known Canadian media visionary (or lunatic, depending on your perspective). Director Jay Cheel lovingly tells the wacky story of Ralph Zavadil. Don’t recognize the name? We all should, given that Zavadil hosted a cable access show that he shot himself from 1990 to 1995, called The Cap’n Video Show, seen primarily in Southern Ontario.

Zavadil would gleefully concoct and perform a series of stunts, each one loonier (and more dangerous) than the last. Clips of episodes show him snorting raw egg, riding a chainsaw skateboard and diving into his backyard. This last stunt misfired, with Zavadil actually breaking his neck in two places, and it was this mishap that would bring his show its greatest notoriety. If it sounds familiar, it should: watching Zavadil’s zany antics, one can’t help but think of the Jackass crew and Tom Green. As is often the case with docs like this—especially Anvil! The Story of Anvil—Beauty Day becomes as poignant as it is unusual.

Another film about low-rent showbiz follies is Punching the Clown, filmmaker Gregori Viens’ tribute to struggling musicians. Henry Phillips plays a hapless artist who suddenly begins to see his luck change with a possible recording deal. He’s soon facing down the yellow press and the sting of scandal. Punching the Clown has a divine endorsement from Sarah Silverman, who’s called it the “best movie about comedy I’ve seen so far.” The doc Phunny Business: A Black Comedy takes a historical look back at All Jokes Aside, which was an Chicago stand-up showcase for African-American comedians for over a decade. This institution gave crucial early work to Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle and Jamie Foxx when they were emerging artists. There’s more stand-up on film with Tell Your Friends! The Concert Film!, Victor Varnado’s feature doc about the trade, with footage of rising stars Reggie Watts and Liam McEneaney as well as interviews with veter­ans Janeane Garofalo and Colin Quinn.

Toronto-based filmmaker Warren P. Sonoda specializes in realistic comedies that somehow marry gritty realism with over-the-top nuttiness—those who caught Cooper’s Camera will know what I’m referring to. With Servitude, he offers a populist vision of a group of wait staff at a restaurant who stage a coup when they learn they are all about to be canned. Margot Kidder and Dave Foley have sup­porting roles.

The territory of roommate hell is well trodden in cinema, especially in the horror (see Single White Female) and comedy genres (The Odd Couple). In Fred & Vinnie, a struggling actor (Fred Stoller) is heartened by the prospect of his buddy Vinnie (Angelo Tsarouchas) coming to move in with him. But Vinnie, who bills himself as the “world’s fattest vegetarian,” happens to be a seri­ously abrasive roommate. Alternately silly and whimsical, Fred & Vinnie won the Christopher Wetzel Award for Independent Film Comedy at Chicago’s Just for Laughs Festival, and proves a great cautionary tale about taking on a roomie.

Montrealer Albert Nerenberg returns with Rire Extrême, his doc about the world’s first ultimate laughter championship, a local competition the filmmaker cooked up to have people com­peting over laughter rather than violence. This is the world premiere of the film, which will be in its original, un-subtitled French version. ■

THE JUST FOR LAUGHS FILM FESTIVAL RUNS FROM JULY 24–30. INFO AT HAHAHA.COM/EN/FILM-FESTIVAL/ABOUT

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