A man walks into a bar… trust me, you haven’t heard this one before. The plot of the offbeat new movie comedy “The Falling Star”— released here by Kino Lorber—is so bizarre and the characters so quirky it could’ve been written by Eugene Ionesco.
For openers, there’s Boris, the bar owner, who looks almost exactly like Dom, a loopy guy who lives in a house by the canal (both played by Dominique Abel). There’s a woman in hysterics over a lost dog, who enlists the services of Fiona (Fiona Gordon), a private investigator, who happens to be Dom’s ex-wife and is as loopy as he. But faithfully brings long-stemmed sunflowers to a child’s grave at the cemetery.
If this quasi-film noir is unpredictable and you’re never quite sure where it’s going or what it adds up to, not to worry—it’s chock-full of zany physical shtick and wild dance sequences that boggle the mind. When you realize Boris and Dom are doing a variation on the famous mirror routine (albeit sans mirror) done by the Marx Brothers in “Duck Soup,” the message of it all becomes clear—just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The dearth of old-school physical comedy a la Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati is often bemoaned by us lovers of the art form, but there’s still hope for this endangered species. It’s revived most fruitfully in the movies of Belgian actor-filmmakers Abel and Gordon, whose latest effort this is. Aided and abetted by Bruno Romy and Kaori Ito, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Kino Lorber is also distributing “The Spanish Dancer” (1923), a Milestone Cinematheque release, on Blu-ray. Beautifully restored by the Eye FiImmuseum and Rob Byrne, with color tinting intact, and a lush orchestral score by Bill Ware, aficionados of silent film will want to take a look.
Among the best reasons for viewing the movie—and indeed for its restoration in the first place—is Pola Negri in the title role. Whether she has the magnetism or the sex appeal of Garbo is in the eye of the beholder, but the Polish-born star of Lubitsch’s “The Wildcat” has undeniable screen presence.
Her co-star in this epic romantic drama about a gypsy girl and her paramour in ancient Spain (which seems a trifle long at 106 minutes) is Antonio Moreno as a great swordsman and reckless spendthrift sentenced to the gallows. Also aboard are Wallace Beery as lecherous Philip IV, and Adolphe Menjou as the Prime Minister’s henchman.
Directed by Herbert Brenon (“Beau Geste”) and written by June Mathis and Beulah Marie Dix, the movie was photographed by the legendary James Wong Howe. Film historian Scott Hyman and dance historian Naima Prevots contribute audio commentary.
Photo: Dominique Abel in “The Falling Star.” Courtesy of Kino Lorber.
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