Warning: this review contains spoilers.
Insomnia is a marvelous thing. It makes the days longer, so after working for 12 hours I still have 8 more hours to go before I actually fall asleep. It also introduces me to movies I would have never watched otherwise, the film in question being a good example.
"Life Among the Cannibals" follows what has become a sort of cliche - that below the pleasent facade of suburban America lies a dark side. A naive and insecure young man moves away from his abusive girlfriend, to the apparently aptly named "Paradise Lane", and quickly discovers all is not as it seems. He begins to hear loud music from his neighbour's house at night, but when he complains to his landlords (who also live next door), they claim they never hear a thing. He sees a dog dig out a human bone in the neighbour's back yard. And every day the neighbour packs large, black garbage bags into a different car than he had the previous day.
Yet at the same time he has other problems. His boss, a disfigured ex-star, is constantly drunk and abusive. His girlfriend, upset at his leaving her, hires a thug to beat him up and talks about his sexual inadequacies on TV. When the aforementioned thug disappears, the police come knocking at his door (in one of the funniest scenes of the movie). So, when he finds a snuff video in his neighbour's house, he is initially shocked, but soon realises that there might just be a solution to all of his problems at once.
What raises "Life Among the Cannibals" from being black comedy into being good black comedy, is the little touchs. His landlords, who complete each other's sentences, and lose their identity when apart; the montages of radio clippings played whenever the main character is driving; the suicidal singer in a cafe'. These things, among others, prevent the movie from being simply a one-joke concept. It is not by any means a great movie, nor is it incredibly original; but it is a highly entertaining glimpse into a skewed world that allows you to enjoy the otherwise wasted hours between 1 and 3 AM.
Overall rating - 7.5/10 Rating if watched after midnight - 8.5/10
Eytan Zweig
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