"“Paints a fantastically bright picture of a modern man lost in a malaise of self-doubt and confusion...”"

The Comedian is newcomer Tom Shkolnik’s debut feature film, ambitiously crafted in the spirit of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg’s Dogme 95 movement. It stars Edward Hogg as a call center worker, part time stand up comedian and full time dreamer. As Edward struggles with the everyday monotony and tediousness of selling cancer insurance to middle age women, he attempts to break through his boredom and shine as a stand up. It seems his only lifeline to the outside world is his roommate and best friend, the beautiful and talented musician Elisa (Elisa Lasowski). Though their relationship appears to be verging on romantic, it's equally as platonic.

After another stand up performance which leaves the crowd sighing rather then laughing, he meets young and free Nathan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) who seems shy yet confident, insecure yet self-assured, everything that Edward isn’t and they embark on a passionate and volatile relationship. Whilst the pretense of Edward being a part time stand up is immediately forgotten after this encounter and never mentioned again, Shkolnik creates a backdrop of modern London, which every Londoner can recognize. The mumblecore style of filming shows us the great artistic underground of London but the dark journeys home and the isolation the capital creates. 

The film struggles throughout to create a tangible storyline that doesn’t meander off into its own pretentiousness. Whilst the acting is flawless, Edward, Elisa and Nathan are real characters with real feelings and we see their interactions, however nuanced they are, as touching on something personal within ourselves. The scene at the back of the bus is an example of this, which touches on how race and sexuality are presented in a modern multicultural society. The scene is delivered in the harsh realistic way Londoners are accustomed too, it’s a shame it’s lost in a sea of mumbled and pointless discussions about life and self.

The Comedian paints a fantastically bright picture of a modern man lost in a malaise of self-doubt and confusion. However the film spirals into a clichéd trap as the last twenty minutes features Edward and a Jesus-like taxi driver discussing the journey we are all on in such a cringe inducing, obvious way that the rest of the film's actually poetic and eloquent points are lost. Great ideas, great actors and probably the most disappointing and out of place ending to a film I’ve seen in a while.