Every once in a while you see a gem at Maryland Film Festival. This picture is a gem.
I'm giving them an extra point or two for being young filmmakers. Really good tho. A dream of a screenplay, with several events taken from the filmmakers' lives -- Lawrence Michael Levine wrote and directed, and plays the male lead. His real-life wife, Sophia Takal, co-stars. Ms Takal's dream of resurrecting a casino, which Mr Levine thought was a bad idea in real life, recurs in the film, and the mysterious wild canaries of the title appear at the casino.
This is a screwball murder mystery a la The Thin Man. Levine and Takal are also big Colombo fans, and Colombo's trench coat makes an appearance.
A very hip comedy, with great jokes and payoffs (a running gag about who should drive the car pays off hilariously), along with expert physical comedy. Funny and endearing. Nick and Nora would be proud.
