I usually try to avoid describing movies as "blank meets blank" (I limit those to once or twice a month at most) but A FEAST OF MAN (2017) sorta cries out to be described as "The Big Chill meets Eating Raoul" or something equally lazy. I mean, apt.
Anyway, it's about old friends getting back together in a house, and it's about cannibalism. That is, the prospect of cannibalism, since they discover after gathering in the house of their deceased friend Gallagher (Laurence Bond) for the reading of his will that they will each inherit one million dollars if, and only if, they consume his corpse.
They're given two days to decide, and needless to say it's a difficult choice. At first they think it's a final practical joke on their dead friend's part, but as the deadline approaches, each seriously considers if the deed is so vile that they can afford to pass up a million dollars to avoid actually committing it.
Of course, this bunch is beyond much deep thought. There's Gallagher's best guy pals, Dickie (Jesse Rudoy) and Wolf, Jr. (Chris Shields), a couple of goofy horndogs who go ga-ga at the sight of Gallagher's erstwhile live-in girlfriend, the oversexed French vixen Arletty (Marleigh Dunlap).
And then there's Judy (Katey Parker), returning home to her old stomping grounds with a fiance', Ted (Frank Mosley), who's sort of the fifth wheel of the group, especially since he considers himself and Judy to be better than everyone else there. Which they quite possibly are, but not by much.
While they're stewing over the impending feast of their dead friend--whom we assume is himself being stewed in preparation for it by his faithful butler James (Zach Fleming)--there's plenty of time in this leisurely-paced comedy for our characters to engage in amusingly dumb conversation and often crude interactions amongst themselves and certain locals.
The latter includes a charming young lass named Sue (Jennifer Golum), a Ranger intern with whom Dickie becomes smitten. He invites her over for dinner (not THAT dinner) and the sweet, innocent Sue is such a stark contrast to the boorish main characters that she is compelled to flee as they hurl invectives in her wake.
The thing is, though, that these people are likably unlikable, and I enjoyed spending a weekend with them and feeling good about how much better they made me feel about myself in comparison to them.
The entire film has a built-in suspense factor in addition to the comedy as we get closer and closer to their decision whether or not to engage in the titular feast. In the meantime, Phillip Chernyak's quirky piano-bar score adds a whimsical quality to everything no matter how socially repellent.
The DVD from Indiepix is in 16:9 widescreen with 2.0 stereo sound. English w/closed captions. Extras consist of a trailer and a short comedy film.
A FEAST OF MAN builds to a filling final course, and I found the entire cinematic repast quite savory indeed. (Bear with me here, I'm on a metaphor roll.) The directing and co-writing (with Dylan Pasture) debut for Caroline Golum, it strikes me as a recipe she's had simmering in her head for some time and couldn't wait to actually start cooking up in remarkably self-assured fashion.
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