Living Wake, The

Synopsis: Facing certain death from a "grave and vague" disease, an otherwise healthy man organises a wake before his planned departure later that evening.

Aroview: Literate and defiantly non-conformist, this snob comedy about an eccentric failure in the arts and his rickshaw driver-cum-biographer (Jesse Eisenberg) succeeds in nailing the idiosyncrasy of its world, with spurts of inspired absurdism.

Has been compared to the comedies of Wes Anderson, but its influences are purer, and the pastoral setting (in southern Maine) and Mike O'Connell's grandiose performance more redolent of English theatre. A recommended romp for willful eccentrics and un-commoners.

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