None More Black - Favorite "Black" Comedy Films

In Bruges.

Geez, how the hell did I forget Underground for mine? That's one of the most unique filmgoing experiences I've ever had, from one of my very favorite directors. Kinda shocked someone on here actually mentioned it, TBH, but major kudos to you. This also reminds me I still need to borrow my friend's copy of the Kino edition so I can see the 5 hour TV cut, which I've heard mixed things about but whatever. 

^ Happiness is a great choice.

Also Pink Flamingos, The Death of Stalin, Man Bites Dog, Naked, and Barton Fink.

I haven't seen a lot of the movies mentioned, but I love my comedies black. Three of my top 20 movies are comedies about corpse disposal, so... yeah. I'm not sure what that says about me. Taking some entries from my most recent top 100 list:

Arsenic and Old Lace -- More dark in the subjects it is covering than in execution, but wildly hilarious all the same.

The Trouble with Harry -- Deadpan comedy about death, and one of the most outrageously hilarious things I've ever seen. "He's... asleep. He's in a deep sleep. A deep, wonderful sleep."

Shallow Grave -- *Car door slams on Ewan McGregor's broken shins*

Mystery Train -- "You shot me! You're not even my brother-in-law and you fucking shot me!"

The Apartment -- This one fits the bill for me. It's a comedy of despair and loneliness, and although the characters treat it with a laugh, they do so because the alternative hurts too much.

Paranoia Agent (actually a TV show, but very auteur driven) -- There's an episode of this show that is a slapstick comedy. A slapstick comedy about an incompetent suicide pact. I'm not entirely sure that this is the most screwed up episode, either. The whole thing walks the line between horror and "you did not just go there" comedy so expertly, and is perhaps the most fitting title to fit in here.

The Death of Stalin -- "The room is only 75% conscious!"

The Hospital -- The American healthcare system targeted for satire. You'll never trust anyone that claims to know what they're doing with your health or your money again.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? -- I may be the only one that laughed my whole way through this movie, I don't know. I do know that only a sick bastard ever would.

Wild Tales -- Watching the guy from the fifth segment lose his shit and give up on bribing people made me laugh harder than most movies could ever dream. And that was far from the funniest moment in the film.

Three Colors: White -- "How about a Russian import?"

Here’s a rarely seen, interesting one -

Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974)

Produced (and completely financed) by George Harrison and the first movie involved with Apple Corps where none of the Beatles were featured—it got tangled up in legal issues after favorable word in its Berlinale premiere. Shot by John Alcott (A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining).

Based on a play about a bunch of expelled art students in drab, desolate northern England whose languor and unsheathed egos merge into inflamed bouts of increasingly sinister fantasy-play and despotic monologue. It’s very provocative material, but there’s such a comic spring to the heightened theatre of it and the hilarious dialogue. I’d recommend it - especially to John Hurt fans. It’s also a probably influence on Withnail & I and Naked (Mike Leigh actually directed the first stage production).

Here’s a clip (a lighter scene early in the movie), I quote this constantly in real life -

Synecdoche, New York is easily my favorite example of this. 

The Coens as filmmakers are probably the best at this overall, Barton Fink (their best) and A Serious Man being the prime examples. Kubrick was also damn good at this, but I'd say his is a case where most of his films have darkly comical scenes rather than any one film being labeled in a blanketed way as a "black comedy" ... with Dr. Strangelove being an exception, of course (though that might fall more into "satire" than black comedy, I'm not sure). PTA is also pretty damn good at this, and I think a lot of people undersell just how funny his dramatic films are. 

Martin Stett It's available just a little pricey on DVD that the BFI put out in 2011. I thought that'd bring it more attention but I don't think it did - and neither did John Hurt's passing. Mike Leigh wrote a little essay in the BFI package - he praised the film's "sympathetic, sardonic take on fascist paranoia." Stuart Cooper the director reflects on the film too, and his bit on the premiere (and pacinoyes you'll like this) -



I'm looking up shots from the movie now and this one's caption writes itself. Shabby Road -

The War of the Roses. Probably the greatest divorce/break-up movie ever.