THE LIVING WAKE

Directed by: Sol Tryon
Released: 2007

an artist/writer who's never finished a project (not jesse eisenberg, the other guy) is diagnosed with an unnamed disease. the film chronicles his last day alive. the odd thing about the disease is that it's "extremely punctual," and he knows that he'll die at precisely 7:33PM. he and eisenberg, his loyal man servant and only friend, spend the film riding around in a bicycle rickshaw visiting people who they deem worthy to receive an invitation to his living wake. it's an extremely strange film filled with black, absurdist humor. when i was watching it, i said to myself "it's like a 90 minute 'monty python' sketch" ... upon reading reviews, someone described it as "a 'monty python' sketch gone long." guess i wasn't the only one who felt this way. one aspect i thought was really cool was that i couldn't, for the life of me, figure out where it was supposed to take place, or during what time period. recommended for fans of absurdist/black comedy. 6.5/10.