Unlike the premise-heavy Super High Me, the roughly chronological events here unfold without urgency or purpose, splitting the difference between travel diary and performance collage.
On stage, Pepitone – stout and cocksure, with a grin that just won’t leave – is completely at ease. Any bitterness is played up for comic effect; his jokes might as well be punctuated with, “Is this what you people want?!”
McFarlane never doubts the worth of her fellow female comedians. Instead she devotes herself to finding the source of the bias and examines the effect of institutional sexism in the entertainment industry.
Through each iteration and each retelling, Birbiglia has refined the story, and Sleepwalk With Me the film is the most pointed and succinct version yet.
Freak Dance goes over the top without becoming obvious or grating. There are nods to other films, but they are often more homage than parody.
Training his lens on Bruce’s life and legacy, director Elan Gale risks the Hydra-headed wrath of cliché, repetition, fawning appraisals and surface-quality conclusions.
(Paradisiac Publishing)
Buy at
Editorial Director: Julie Seabaugh
Editorial Assistant: Daniel Berkowitz
E-mail:
