Monkey Business

A crime piece, this, featuring members of the Russian mafia apparently (with a token kiwi boss). The main story focuses on a break-in and theft which goes wrong at several points. Actually I wasn’t clear why the other criminals even featured, because the story was really all about this one thief and the woman he was stealing from. The tension of the scene where his hand is stuck and she comes out to get something from the fridge was terrific, and frankly could have been held much longer. I guess I wish the story had explored these moments of tension and character exposition in greater detail. There were some odd technical choices, such as a bizarre multiple-repeated slo-mo fall through a window into a toilet, and shifts from colour to black-and-white and vice versa (the latter presumably precipitated by some emotional change, although it was unclear to me what that was exactly). And did they misspeak the required line at the end? All in all, a muddled film peppered with nice moments of clarity and humour.

A burglar spends a little time on some philosophical leaf appreciation before climbing into a bathroom window and faceplanting into a bowl of jelly left on top of the toilet. He seems to have broken into the house of a singer, but isn't much impressed with the haul he finds in her house. MEANWHILE, gangster types are doing gangster things somewhere. MEANWHILE, back in the house, our buglar discovers a secret lock box under some furniture, reaches in...and pulls the pin out of a grenade, which he now can't let go of. The singer arrives home and somehow fails to notice the guy stuck with his arm under his cupboard, although she is revealed to be the source of the toilet jelly. Calling for help, the burglar gets the gangsters on the other end of his phone, who appear to be his colleagues in the Russian mafia. Rather than render him any assistance though, they laugh at him - what bastards. Bereft of assistance, the burglar is (presumably) forced to call attention to himself, because the next thing we see, he is being led away by police. The singer then reveals that not all was what it seems. So, there seemed to be a lot going on here, but it never quite joined up. The Russian mafia guys had some pretty sweet shades and a very serious looking gun, but it was never quite clear what relevance they had to the story - I kept waiting for a connection between them and the singer, but it never materialised. The singer's habit of eating jelly on the toilet while looking depressed...what was that about? And why does the burglar like leaves? I feel these questions will sadly never be answered. Some good humour in the film though, and definitely runs away with the prize for the most excellent accent in the 4 heats I watched in Chch.

After examining a leaf, a man breaks into a house really, really slowly. Meanwhile two thugs wait in a car outside for the burglar. They say "stupid" a few times. The burglar eventually discovers a safe but unfortunately, also a grenade. This might not go well. A cool looking intro was spoilt by a horrible font colour! The film itself was dogged by weird audio - too quiet and at other times nothing at all! I too wondered why the shift between colour and black 'n' white occurred as it added very little. There seemed to be off camera noise from the crew at various points and I'm sure the wrong line of dialogue was used. An intriguing effort, however.

A burglar spends a little time on some philosophical leaf appreciation before climbing into a bathroom window and faceplanting into a bowl of jelly left on top of the toilet. He seems to have broken into the house of a singer, but isn't much impressed with the haul he finds in her house. MEANWHILE, gangster types are doing gangster things somewhere. MEANWHILE, back in the house, our buglar discovers a secret lock box under some furniture, reaches in...and pulls the pin out of a grenade, which he now can't let go of. The singer arrives home and somehow fails to notice the guy stuck with his arm under his cupboard, although she is revealed to be the source of the toilet jelly. Calling for help, the burglar gets the gangsters on the other end of his phone, who appear to be his colleagues in the Russian mafia. Rather than render him any assistance though, they laugh at him - what bastards. Bereft of assistance, the burglar is (presumably) forced to call attention to himself, because the next thing we see, he is being led away by police. The singer then reveals that not all was what it seems. So, there seemed to be a lot going on here, but it never quite joined up. The Russian mafia guys had some pretty sweet shades and a very serious looking gun, but it was never quite clear what relevance they had to the story - I kept waiting for a connection between them and the singer, but it never materialised. The singer's habit of eating jelly on the toilet while looking depressed...what was that about? And why does the burglar like leaves? I feel these questions will sadly never be answered. Some good humour in the film though, and definitely runs away with the prize for the most excellent accent in the 4 heats I watched in Chch.