Culture Watch
Page Three of Angela Pressburger's January/February DVD Reviews
Black Books: The Complete First Series
2000, UK, 142 min.
Directors: Nick Wood, Graham Lineham
Recognitions
BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation comedy, 2001 & 2005
A British, BBC sitcom that follows the adventures in the book trade of Bernard Black, a slovenly alcoholic chain-smoker who doesn't like bibliophiles and is averse to customers. We meet his best — and probably only — friend, Fran, a neurotic, man-obsessed single woman, who runs the Nifty Gifty gift shop next door, and his new accountant, Manny, a former corporate office stress victim, who appeared in a great rush one morning seeking The Little Book of Calm. (He later manages to swallow the book by accident and develops godlike soothing powers, which allow him to stop dogs barking and turn off car alarms.)
A uniquely British mix of irreverent humour and occasional slapstick dotted with witty one-liners, this is British comedy at its best.
As Life Goes By
2003, France, 94 min., subtitles, documentary
Director: Jean-Henri Meunier
Ten years ago, when the director and his family decided to escape the rush and crush of urban life in Paris for a gentler pace of living, they settled on the medieval village of Najac, in the South of France. Over a period of seven years, the filmmaker lovingly chronicled the place, its surroundings and its people. Always illuminating and entertaining, this is a genuinely good and charming documentary that will, as the filmmaker so aptly notes, "make you feel more happy and less stupid ..."
The Yes Men
USA, 2003, 80 min., documentary
Directors: Dan Ollman, Sarah Price, Chris Smith
Recognitions
Best Documentary, US Comedy Arts Festival, 2004
A truly funny documentary which follows The Yes Men, a small group of prankster activists, who have gained world-wide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization on television and at business conferences around the world. A fabulously funny documentary, that is also distinctly disturbing.
Angela Pressburger grew up in the film industry (father Emeric Pressburger made The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus and Stairway to Heaven). She has been been an international program consultant at the Vancouver International Film Festival for the past ten years, and has spoken about film and sat on festival juries in both Europe and North America. She has recently written Show It in Public! — a grassroots guide to showing film in public (www.showamovie.ca) and keeps busy writing reviews for her home video for discerning viewers website MapToMovies.com
