“Black” humor from here
The title of this documentary directed by actor Frédéric Pierre will remind many of the dubious jokes of another era, which it would be very badly seen to come out without embarrassment today. The speakers ofOnce, it’s a blackall Afro-Quebec comedians of different generations and countries of origin, have been served this opening phrase more than once in their lives. joke of my uncle”. Their reaction, both exasperated and amused, sets the stage for this portrait of humor carried on stage, on TV and on other screens by black artists in Quebec for a little over forty years.
The director’s on-screen interviews with “veteran” Normand Brathwaite, whose career was propelled by his cartoon character as a Haitian bus clerk in comedy At Denise’shis “successors” Anthony Kavanagh and Michel Mpambara, Boucar Diouf, Eddy King, Erich Preach and the “rookie” (and only woman on the panel) Garihanna Jean-Louis highlight the path of each, but also the evolution of the Quebec society.
Between the character of “Patwice” who made Brathwaite famous in 1979 and the Mama Fatou of Garihanna Jean-Louis, created in the 2010s, there are almost half a century of social, cultural and political changes that the speakers eloquently evoke, taking care to put racist comments into context, such as moments of recognition and mutual understanding with the public here and in some cases, elsewhere.
The sociological and, in some respects, philosophical exercise is unfortunately only strewn with too short excerpts from sketches and striking numbers by the artists interviewed, which essentially serve to put into perspective the broader discourse on humor as a common cultural object. . We would have taken a little more, if only to give the taste of discovering and revisiting the repertoire of each of them.
Once, it’s a black
Crave, from February 4
Murder and improv
Comedy mixed with detective thrillers (or the reverse) is on the rise among our neighbors to the south. After the frank comedy, but finely scripted After the partyof which you were told a lot of good in these same pages last week, now lands on Netflix another series of fictional police investigations which this time calls on the talents of improviser of its guest stars.
Murderville is an adaptation of the British hit Murder in Successville, presented on BBC Three between 2015 and 2017, which featured a rather nerdy and not always very clever fictional policeman, who had to team up each episode with a new “trainee”: a very real star, who embodies a fictionalized version of herself, who is not fully aware of the investigation scenario in which she plays. And who should improvise, as much as possible.
In the American version, Canadian comedian Will Arnett (Arrested Development) plays the pathetic “senior” investigator who gets assigned a new work partner by his boss (and ex-wife). Conan O’Brien, Sharon Stone, Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) are among the police recruits of the day who willingly engage in this unpredictable exercise, the outcome fortunately telegraphed in advance. The important thing here is not the conclusions of the investigation, but the way in which it unfolds.
Murderville (VOA and VF)
Netflix, from February 3
From book to screen
The character Jack Reacher, hero of a series of novels and short stories by British author Lee Child, has already had a big screen incarnation by Tom Cruise. This former American military police officer, who has become a nomad who combines odd jobs and investigations on his own account in the four corners of the United States, a tough guy with little expression who hides a heavy past, is entitled to his television version in this miniseries inspired by the first novel in which he appeared, Killing Floor.
The wandering (and burly) vigilante, who makes a stop in a remote Georgia town that reminds him of his brother, finds himself accused of murder and must prove his innocence. A critical embargo prevents us from saying much more about this action thriller developed by Nick Santora (Scorpio), except that the actor who plays the hero, Alan Ritchson, has an imposing physique much closer to that of the original literary character than Tom Cruise.
Reacher (VOA and VF)
Prime Video, from February 4
The comic and the criminal