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All Joking Aside
USA 2020
produced by Jon Ornoy, Brian Markinson (executive), Thomas Pickering (executive), Shannon Kohli (executive) for Animal Mother Films
directed by Shannon Kohli
starring Raylene Harewood, Brian Markinson, Richard Lett, Tanya Jade, Katrina Reynolds, Cedric Ducharme, Trevor Horne, Javier Lacroix, Vicki Passmore, David Lewis, Larke Miller, Pam Kearns, Joseph Gallaccio, Nikki Wallin, Selina Loum, Frank Brandies, Graeme Thompson, Kirk M Wilson, Aaron Roderick, Michelle Choi-Lee, Damonde Tschritter, Shelene Yung, Heather Feeney, Julia Tortolano, Derek Gerard, Megan Pereira, Josh Hill, Dave 'Squatch' Ward, Brandon Bagg, Melanie Rees, Evan Markinson
written by James Pickering, music by David Ramos
review by Mike Haberfelner
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It has always been Charlene's (Raylene Harewood) biggest dream to
become a stand-up comedian - but then, when she hits the stage for the
first time, she's interrupted by Bob (Brian Markinson), a heckler, who
won't give up until she storms off the stage. He's later removed from the
club, but it's too late for her. Charlene later checks with the club owner
(Richard Lett) and learns from him that Bob once has been a bigshot on the
stand-up circus himself, but an altercation with a heckler ended his
career. Charlene puts two and two together and figures that if she wants
to continue to follow her dreams, she needs training - from Bob. She
manages to track Bob down before long, and eventually gets his attention
by constantly heckling him, and when she offers him quite a bit of money,
he wills in to guide and mentor her. But at her first set, she totally
tanks, simply because she had exactly the same jokes like everyone else.
And this is when Bob's mentoring really takes hold as he teaches her to
develop her own persona while remaining relatable to the crowd. And during
their sessions together, Charlene starts to see through his cynical facade
and learn more about Bob as well - and it seems that while they're
preparing for Charlene's first big gig, they also grow personally. But
somehow Bob's cynic alter ego eventually shines through again and he
destroys their both professional and personal relationship with only days
to the gig. Thing is, Charlene might have been Bob's last chance to
vindicate himself, while it's less than certain that she will succeed at
the gig without Bob in her corner ... A drama about comedy
sounds like a contradiction in terms - but in the case of All Joking
Aside, it sure works. That's thanks to a light-footed approach that
allows for punchlines even when things are grim. And that the lead
characters are totally relatable (even despite Bob's cynic attitude) of
course helps as well, and makes their conflicts palpable, even if it's
unlikely that everybody in the audience is a stand-up. Now add to this a
directorial effort that approaches both comedy and drama with the same
kind of subtlety, and two strong lead performances, and you've got
yourself a pretty cool movie.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
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love and death and everything in between,
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Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
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