Review of The Little Hours (2017) by Amheretojudge — 04 Nov 2019

It feels like a long SNL sketch and I am only saying that it is long for the runtime I saw or else I thought it was of the same length.

The Little Hours Jeff Baena, the director and the co-writer of this hilarious I-don't-think-satiricalIt feels like a long SNL sketch and I am only saying that it is long for the runtime I saw or else I thought it was of the same length.

The Little Hours.

Jeff Baena, the director and the co-writer of this hilarious I-don't-think-satirical comic film, has all my attention I can give. And there are no regrets. Not even for a second. Despite its ups and downs. I am sure that the film has plenty of different aspects and things that is to be swooned over. But let me focus on one. Okay. So there's this one joke, in an entire film. A comedy film. First of all you've got to take your hats off for that bold move. Now, there have been such rare projects as such that has made its way up to the top. But no one walked on one track, one tune.

And the joke is- I hope you are ready for it- that these characters, the personalities they possess, is not actually how they are and behave. This contradiction between their appearance and nature is the ongoing and the only gag the film has. So now how do you make it last long, in fact, throughout the film. Well, the first is obviously that you push the boundary gradually as the film ages knowing where you are going with these sketches and how impactful the destination is.

And the second one, the surprising factor, the soul reason why it works every single time, is the reaction to these outrageous actions. Not only these reactions or characters are mirroring the enactments of the audience. But also is subconsciously telling the audience how to act in these circumstances. The observer is told to lose it completely in various ways, different positions, situationally. Now was this intentional or a fluke, is a latter matter. The result is that it works. Charmingly it flows by rather than it floods in. The Little Hours is little and feels barely like of an hour, everything in a good way.