The Little Death

I've seen my fair share of comedies, to be honest its one of my favourite genre of film and television. However, when I sat down with my fiancé to watch The Little Death, I didn't quite expect the disturbing hilarity which ensued.

IMDb describes the film as "a truly original comedy about sex, love, relationships and taboo." and I would certainly agree with them. Write and director, Josh Lawson (Anchorman 2), perfectly combines the awkwardness of discussing sex and fetishes with a funny and provocative insight into the lives of these fictional couples.

From foot fetishes to rape fantasies, nothing is off limits here and the unfortunate involvement of a sign language translator in a sex chat call tops it off perfectly and had me dreading the next scene for fear of my sides actually splitting.

In simple terms, The Little Death is a humorous take on some moderately serious views on modern day sex and gives the more vanilla viewer an insight into the lives of people who could easily be our neighbours.

My vote, 8/10. Just watch out for the resident sex offender, Gollywogs can be a frightening distraction....

Marc Tew entertainment.uk.to

This is a really clever film. In that it covers several couples' stories you could maybe say it's like a thinking person's Valentine's Day or Love Actually. But the writing and acting are far superior.

The couples are all real, cringingly-so in some cases. There are some hilarious moments (especially the sign language translation call) and some scary, sad and ironic parts too.

Some of the characters are more likable than others. There is some political incorrectness and a small amount of nudity.

Definitely recommend this for a break from Hollywood action thrillers or sickly sweet rom coms.

The first thing I did after watching the film was check social media - was it just me or did everyone else agree this was a great flick? Happily it wasn't just me, I couldn't find a bad tweet. Yes, it's an awkward topic, and not that I'm a prude but I did have trepidations about going to see a movie about sexual fetishes. But actually, that's what gave it it's humour, along with the incredible performances by not one, but every single cast member. At no time did I wish that we went back to one of the other story lines because each one was engaging in its own right. The film somehow manages to be light hearted and appealing to adults of all ages, while at the same time meandering through sophisticated undertones and delivering a few thought provoking messages. This is not just a fantastic example of Australian talent, it is a brilliant movie.

This film was written directed and completed to perfection. Initially I was a bit hesitant about getting tickets for it at TIFF. But my instinct and intuition told me to go for it. And as is the case most of the time it was a winner. From the start to the finish the whole theatre was trying to anticipate what would happen next. Never knowing and never being able to foresee the next scene.

With every scene change, with every twist and turn we we laughing hysterically. I viewed a number of good films at TIFF this year, like every other year. But this well be one I see again, and have already recommended it to all of my fiends. You must see this film as soon as you can, and i am sure you will find it entertaining, refreshing, enlightening and compared to most of the films out their today this is like a breath of fresh air.

This is the Hollywood's golden fleece, the sex comedy that Hollywood is always trying to make, and reliably always falls flat on its face with. And amazingly, all of a sudden there is this tiny movie that nobody counted on, and it's perfect, and it's from Australia.

It's not even that it's an "alternative" film. The actors have that glossy soap-opera-star quality to them that I hate so much about Hollywood. They live in better apartments than me, they drive better cars then me (or, they drive cars), their engagement rings are way clunkier than anything I could afford. One major difference between this and the standard Hollywood fare is that the whole shindig is never trying to suck up to me by trying to make me feel like I'm part of this world. Most of all, though, the script is simply outstanding. As it should be if someone has to invest a mountain of money to turn it into a movie. Next, the actors know their craft. They're not just better looking people whom someone has put in front of a camera. And that's pretty much all their is to the big mystery why Hollywood apparently can't make a good sex comedy.

PS: This movie entertained me while I was watching it, and kept me thinking afterwards.