Sunday 22 November 2015

Four Lions (2010 Chris Morris)

Written by Morris with Peep Show's Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, film manages an amazing balancing act between Carry On and 7/7, and is sadly still most relevant. Really funny, yet doesn't pull its punches in the final minutes. Riz Ahmed and Kayvan Novak are splendid as the idealist and the idiot. Also complex - I loved the scene where Riz's brother won't enter the room because his wife Preeya Kalidas is in it (the brother who is then wrongly arrested) and they end up squirting waterpistols at him. Nigel Lindsay is the radicalised twit.

With Adeel Akhtar, who in an interview claimed the film was protected from criticism because it was 'so well researched' - indeed the inspiration - if I remember rightly - was genuine recorded telephone calls between really thick sounding would-be terrorists.

Plus - fleetingly - Kevin Eldon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Craig Parkinson.

Won the BAFTA for most promising newcomer. A good representative of why I love Chris Morris so much - the blackest of black humour.

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