Black Humour
"Black comedy...also known as 'black humour' or 'dark comedy', is a sub-genre of comedy and satire where topics and events that are usually treated seriously – death, mass murder, sickness, madness, terror, drug abuse, rape, war etc - are treated in a humorous or satirical manner." - Wikipedia
Good Stuff! Alice's dark comedy delights await below.
The Death of Stalin (2018)
7.2/10
Director: Armando Iannucci
Starring: Dermot Crowley, Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Tambor, Karl Johnson, Michael Palin, Steve...
When tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin dies in 1953, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to become the next Soviet leader. Am... Read more
Live Flesh (1997)
7.4/10
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Angela Molina, Francesca Neri, Javier Bardem, Liberto Rabal, Penelope Cruz
During a fight with his junkie girlfriend, police intervene and an officer is shot. Six years later the wrongly convicted Victor is shocked to learn h... Read more
Lord of War (2005)
7.6/10
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ethan Hawke
In this black comedy/drama Nic Cage plays opportunistic businessman Yuri Orlov who has made a killing (excuse the pun) selling the left-over Soviet we... Read more
The Libertine (2004)
6.4/10
Director: Laurence Dunmore
Starring: Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Rosamund Pike, Tom Hollander, Kell...
Johnny Depp plays the hedonistic writer John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, close friend of Charles II (John Malkovich) and a notorius figure in 17th cent... Read more
Pauline and Paulette (2001)
7/10
Director: Lieven Debrauwer
Starring: Dora Van Der Groen, Ann Petersen, Rosemarie Bergmans, Idwig Stephane
Mentally-challenged Pauline is obsessed with pretty flowers and her glamourous sister Paulette. When Martha, her caretaker sister, dies suddenly, Paul... Read more
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
7.4/10
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, William Baldwin, Anna P...
Writer/director Noah Baumbach's semi-autobiographical tale of a disintegrating family set in 1980s Brooklyn is full of melancholy wit and sympathetic... Read more
Trainspotting (1995)
8.2/10
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle, Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Kel...
A gritty, graphically painful and, at times, blackly funny look at a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh, Scotland focusing on one young man as he re... Read more
Abigail's Party (1977)
7.4/10
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Alison Steadman, Tim Stern, Janine Duvitski
Mike Leigh delivers in grand fashion with this acerbic social commentary. Beverly (Alison Steadman) is a gin-sodden shrew with middle-class aspiration... Read more
In the Soup (1992)
7.1/10
Director: Alexandre Rockwell
Starring: Jennifer Beals, Steve Buscemi, Seymour Cassel, Will Patton, Carol Kane, Stanley...
A wonderfully bizarre comedy about a naive, ambitious writer (Steve Buscemi) who's penned a 500 page screenplay, and the eccentric flim-flam man (Seym... Read more
Thank You For Smoking (2005)
7.6/10
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holme...
Nick Naylor is Big Tobacco's go-to-guy when they need a good spin on something. Like premature death, lung cancer, etc. But Nick revels in the twist... Read more