Death at a Funeral (2007)- Frank Oz

The biggest problems with movies are expectations.
-Frank Oz

It is no secret that I love the Brits. They have thousands upon thousands of years of really cool history. They have been the creators of awesome music. They love drinking beer. And tea. They have a long tradition of film scholarship, study, and general movie lovin'. What is also awesome about the British?

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

This. This right here. What can I say...British humor appeals to my dry, sarcastic side. It's not for everyone. But if you, like me, appreciate a good ol' fashioned British black comedy, you will really really REALLY like Frank Oz's 2007 film Death at a Funeral (not to be confused with Tyler Perry's 2010 remake).


The director, Frank Oz, is well known for other things besides directing. For example, you may have heard of little shows called Sesame Street and The Muppets. Oh, you have? More likely than not, he has voiced some of your favorite characters from those shows. What about Star Wars? Yeah...he was Yoda. I know, I know. Read all about him here.

Which brings us to his film Death at a Funeral. It features some of Britain's most well-known actors, including Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones before he became a badass Lannister.

Read all about the plot here.

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I've seen this movie twice now, and what stuck out to me the second time around was the complexity of the story. Well, I suppose it was more how the different characters all fit together to make up a complex story. Getting a bunch of crazy characters together to create chaos is nothing new, but how Oz did it was really quite remarkable. The carefully choreographed dance around the house really reminded me of Jean Renoir's 1939 film La Regle du jeu (The Rules of the Game).

Since I have been sick this week with the inevitable fall cold, I am going to keep this post short and sweet and focus on Oz's use of off-screen space.

In Death, the idea of chaos was created and intensified by how many rooms and spaces the characters were interacting with. As the plot thickened, characters would retreat to the study, to the bathroom, or even to the roof.

The main characters- Daniel and Robert- would have to run around the entire house in order to address each of the developing problems, leaving us breathless as we followed them. Our awareness that at any moment, a character that had been hiding in another room could come out and disrupt the story made for a very exciting vibe.

Similarly, Renoir used deep-focus shots and a constantly moving camera to create a similar effect. Two characters would run around the main floor chasing each other, opening and closing doors to reveal even more of the characters in other rooms doing other things. Those characters would then come out into the main room and follow the others.

It was chaos, confusion, and generally awesome. In fact, when the film was originally released, the audience was so frustrated and enraged by the amount of confusion and chaos in the film that they set their theater seats on fire!

Luckily, we have gotten used to this sort of treatment, so instead of lighting things on fire, we are excited instead. Can you imagine what that 1939 audience would have done after watching a Christopher Nolan movie? I shudder to think about it.

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Rating: If you like dark comedies, do yourself a favor and watch this movie. Not only is the plot hysterical, but the dialogue is spot on. The actors and the performances they give are tremendous, and there's even a nice little message at the end. If you're in the mood to laugh until your sides hurt, I would highly recommend it. Can't say I would say the same about Tyler Perry's remake...